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PUBLIC ADDRESSES, ETC., * 



OF 

Ceo. W. Atkinson, 11 D., D. C. I,, 



Governor of West Virginia, 



DURING HIS TERM OF OFFICE. 



EMBRACING A VARIETY OF PUBLIC QUESTIONS. 




PRINTED BY THE PUBLIC PRINTER, 
1901. 



p. 

Author. 

(Person). 

l2Ap'0l 




SPEECH 



of Hon. George W. Atkinson, at Parkersburg, West Virginia, 
accepting the Republican nomination for 
Governor of West Virginia. 



July 22nd, 1896. 



(Reported stenographically by Mr. Frederick Scott, of Charlestou.) 

Mr. Chairman, and Gentleman of the Convention: 

This is the first time I was ever nominated for Governor, and 
you have scared me well nigh to death. (Applause and laugh- 
ter.) I am an American citizen, and I am a Republican because 
I am an American. (Applause.) As your nominee for Gover- 
nor, I stand to-day for patriotism, for protection and for pros- 
perity. I stand for the McKinley bill or its equivalent, and I 
also stand for "Bill" McKinley. (Applause.) I standby my 
own State as against all other States in the Union; T stand for 
my own people as against all other people; I stand for my own 
country as against all other countries and governments on 
God's green footstool. I would be less than human, my fellow- 
citizens, if I were not moved with gratitude and thankfulness 
for this expression of confideuce which you have this day re- 
posed in me. I am amazed over the oneness of sentiment with 
which you have selected me as the standard bearer of the Re- 
publican party of West Virginia, the greatest and grandest 
political party of our times and of all times. (Great applause.) 
With your undivided support,— and I know I will have it— 
(Voices: That's right) I will carry your flag to victory. If 
God spares my life and health, at the setting of the sun on the 
3rd day of November next, I will ascend the steps of your capi- 
tol at Charleston and will plant triumphantly the banner of 
protection, of reciprocity and of honest money on the dome of 
that magnificent edifice. (Loud and continued applause.) 



4 



Public Addresses. &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



This, my fellow-citizens, is the fullness of my faith. I believe 
that I can make good this promise more than that, I believe I 
will do it. How will I do it? I will do it by the undivided vote of 
the Republican party of West Virginia whose candidate I am 
to-day, backed by those men who have hitherto voted the Dem- 
ocratic ticket because of prejudice, but who will vote that way 
no longer, but will henceforth cast their ballots to restore pros- 
perity to our common country by re-etabhshing the great prin- 
ciples of protection to American industries and American labor, 
and restoring also the great doctrine of reciprocity with all 
of the sister republics of the new world as originated and de- 
veloped by that peerless statesman James G. Blaine. (Loud 
and continued applause. ) 

The voters of West Virginia and of the United States of 
America have tried protection and they have also tried free 
trade, and I speak my honest convictions today, my country- 
men, when I say that at the approaching election a tremendous 
majority, largely made up of former Democratic voters, will 
favor the restoration of protection and reciprocity. (Applause.) 

Four years of free trade and Grover and his clover, was 
enough for the people of this country for a hundred years to 
come. They have tried free trade and it has been found want- 
ing. The promises and pledges of 1892 made by the free trade 
end of the Democratic party have not yet materialized. They 
promised us prosperity and they gave us instead idleness and 
soup houses; they promised us bread and they gave us a stone; 
they promised us fish and they gave us serpent: they promised 
us good times and gave us instead desolation and despair; they 
promised us a tariff for revenue only and they gave us instead 
a tariff for deficiency only. ( A pplause. ) 

They promised us to fill the treasury of the nation, Mr. Chair- 
man, with money, but they have filled it instead with a vacuum 
almost as boundless as the sea; they promised us statesman- 
ship, and gave us instead demagoguery; and I say it with some- 
what of a degree of diffidence Mr. Chairman, yet it is true, there 
is not a six foot statesman in Mr. Cleveland's cabinet; not one 
of them in statesmanship is over four feet tall. For the past 
four years or nearly so, they have been squinting out of the key- 
holes in the White House at Washington, instead of throwing 
the doors wide open and looking out into the face of the wide 
world with common sense and ordinary statesmanship. They 



Speech Accepting the Nomination. 



5 



are so narrow in their outlook and so prejudiced against the 
principles and polity of the Republican party that they would 
not recognize it, but with Tillman's pitch-fork they cast the 
whole of them aside in a heap. Like Samson of old, of whom 
you have read about in the Bible, they were foolhardy enough 
to pnll down the great edifice of protection, knowing that they 
themselves of necessity must be crushed in the fall. Their politi- 
cal skins are so tight on their political bodies that they cannot 
shut their eyes. (Applause and laughter.) We will close their 
eyes for them on the 3rd of November next. (Laughter and 
applause.) Under God and by the help of forme]- Democratic 
voters who are independent enough today to cast aside their 
ancient prejudices and will vote for loin steaks instead of rump 
cuts, Ave will bury them so deep that Gabriel's trumpet can 
never resurrect them. (Great applause and laughter.) Already 
Mr. Chairman, the voters of the United States are determining 
that at the approaching election in November, they will bury 
the free trade end of the Democratic party and the free silver 
contingent of that old party, like the old Scotch Presbyterian 
lady said she would bury his satanic majesty — face downwards, 
so that the more he scratched, the deeper down he would go. 
(Loud laughter and applause). 

The most of you are familiar with Bible history, and I feel 
sure quite a number of you will remember that Belshazzar, the 
King, gave a great feast at Babylon, on the Euphrates; and 
while he and his lords were eating and drinking and revelling, 
the Medes and the Persians, under the command of Cyrus the 
Great, came upon them and captured the city. While Belshaz- 
zar was drinking, his ancient enemies, the Medes and the Per- 
sians, changed the channel of the Euphrates river and shut off 
the supply of their water from the city, and when their water 
supply was shut off they had to succumb. (A voice: Did'nt he 
have any beer?) And when the triumphant Republican party 
of West Virginia enters the citadel of Democracy in this State 
on the fourth day of March, next, it will be like Cyrus' entry in- 
to Babylon. The Democratic party has struck the sciatic 
nerve of the pocket books of millions of the people of this coun- 
try, and when they struck that tender nerve something had to 
be done. More than that, this doctrine of wielding the magic 
wand of free trade which has been held in the hands of the lead- 
ers of the Democratic party of this country for more than a 



6 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



quarter of a century, has cut off the supplies of millions of our 
people, and when they struck the nerve of the pocket-book and 
the nerve of the pocket, the people were excusable for croaking 
and squealing, if you will allow me the expression of the street. 

In the statistics of commercial failures, of strikes and lock- 
outs and of shrinkage of products, the record of the Democrat- 
ic party of the United States of America stands forth unparal- 
leled and unprecedented as the party of wreck and ruin. The 
Democratic party is now and always has been the party of 
wreck and ruin, while the Republican party is now and always 
has been the party of progress; the party to assume the great 
responsibilities of the nation, and to settle them. This, my 
friends, is the genius of the Republican party. It despises eva- 
sion, it detests compromises, it rejoices in opportunities. No, 
men of West Virginia, I beg of you to hear me; I beg of you to 
pitch your tents among the throng of the living and not 
among the graves of the dead. The Republican party is the 
party for young men to live in, and for old men to die in. (Ap- 
plause.) It keeps its face to the future and grapples only with 
living issues, while the Democratic party, like the evil bird of 
prey, with dead issues forever hanging from its beak, whose 
dark and gloomy pathway is only dimly lighted by the 
smouldering camp fires of the party of progress. Ours is the 
party of the living; theirs is the party of the dead. 

Mr. Chairman, what a great getting down stairs there will be 
on the fourth day of March, next, when the triumphant Repub- 
lican party of West Virginia turns on an eight inch nozzle in 
the various State institutions of West Virginia. (Applause 
and laughter.) The present incumbents who have been in of- 
fice so long that they feel like they own the outfits, will register 
the fastest time that has ever yet been made upon the Ameri- 
can turf. The records of Nancy Hanks and Ten Eyck and 
Maud S. will be so far eclipsed by these individuals that the fa- 
mous racers referred to will never be heard of again. I sug- 
gest, Mr. Chairman, modestly and cleverly, of course, that they 
had better start now, lest those of them that are string-halted 
and a little lame might be overcome in the maelstrom of the 
coining political avalanche. 

Our illustrious fellow citizen, the Hon. William L. Wilson, of 
West Virginia, two years ago, or a little over, partook of a 
Belshazzar feast in London. It was true he ate but one dinner 



Speech Accepting the Nomination. 



7 



with old John Bull, but the viands were so strong and the wine 
was so hot that somehow or another they threw brother Wil- 
son into political cramps; and strange to say, that Belshazzar 
feast in the city of London, inoculated the Democratic party of 
the United States with an incurable disease, which is called, in 
medical parlance, the black vomit; and stranger still, Mr. 
Chairman, it is a fact that the high priced wines and high 
priced brandies which have been imported from foreign coun- 
tries under a reduction of the tariff duties in the Wilson-Gror- 
man law, which you know they claim was gotten up expressly 
for "the poorer classes of this country," has failed to .relieve 
the cramps or check the vomit. I tell you, my friends, salt 
peter and burnt brandy won't save them. But don't be de- 
ceived; the Democratic party is not entirely dead; it ought to be, 
but it 'aint. It is wind-broken and ring-boned and spavined, and 
string-halted and is badly broken down in the pastern joints; 
but because it is hip shot, don't for a moment imagine that it 
is dead. It will bob up serenely when the ring-masters and 
bosses of the old party crack the party whip and inject cocaine 
into its wind-galled and splinted and spavined legs. 

The voters of the United States, Mr. President, will never let 
that old, effete party, get back into power again in this coun- 
try in your day and mine. Somehow it won't die and get out 
of the way of human progress. It is like the hydra-headed 
monster of fiction, when you cut off one head others will grow 
out on the stumps. (Laughter.) It is like the poor, it is always 
with us. We will have to watch it like Uncle Ephraim said 
when watching for the possum. He said, "Use been cotchin' 
possums nigh unto forty years, and Use going to stay right 
here with this gun in my hand 'till I cotch dis possum, and 
when I cotch him, I'se gwine to dump him into de skillet, kase 
you never knows when a possum is dead or is only foolin wid 
you." (Loud laughter). This is our year to win. I see the 
hand-writing on the wall yonder, written in characters so plain 
that he who runs may read it. It is addressed to William J. 
Bryan, Grover Cleveland, and the balance of that class of mod- 
ern statesmen: "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHAKSIN;" Thou 
art weighed in the balances and are found wanting. Thou hast 
been faithful over nothing, not even a few things; henceforth, a 
back seat in the synagogue is good enough for you. (Ap- 
plause.) These illustrious statesmen are trying to hide behind 



8 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



one another. There is Mr. Br3 T an, dodging in behind Mr. Wil- 
son, Mr. Wilson is hiding behind Mr. Gorman, and Mr. Gorman 
is hiding behind Mr. Carlisle, and Mr. Carlisle is hiding behind 
Mr. Cleveland, and Mr. Cleveland is hiding behind himself, and 
old John Bull is hiding behind the heap. (Laughter.) And I 
speak the God's truth, for I believe it, not one of them to-day. 
except Mr. Bull, knows where u he is at." (Laughter.) 

We can carry West Virginia this year; will we do it my coun- 
trymen? (Loud cries of Yes, yes.) You have placed your 
standard in my hands and I promise you here and now, I 
will leave the hottest trail all over West Virginia that ever a 
democrat put his nose to. My fight, like that of the Spartans 
of old under Leonidas at Thermopylae, will be for victory or the 
grave, and I know my fellow citizens you, all of you, will stand 
by me shoulder to shoulder, (Cries of That's right, that's right, 
we will) elbow to elbow, from start to finish. lain a Republican 
Mr. Chairman, from hat to heels, and I promise you that I 
will talk protection and reciprocity and honest money from 
Hancock county to the Big Sandy, and from McDowell county 
to the rock-ribbed hills which hem in the historic valley of 
the Potomac on the east. More than that; the hustings 
will be open to all comers, and I pledge you that I will stand 
upon the Republican national platform adopted at St. Louis. 
I will stand upon that platform sink or swim, live or die, 
survive or perish. (Loud and prolonged applause.) The 
tide of pubiic sentiment is coming towards the Republican 
party upon all these great questions. Some years ago I 
stood out yonder at the Golden Gate beside the sighing 
sea, and standing there for a few moments I could not tell 
whether the tide was coining in or going out; but standing a 
little longer, I saw the mighty waves come rolling in, rolling in 
with awful and apparent irresistible force, and then they would 
strike the beach and break to pieces, and recede again, foaming, 
splashing, seething and white-capped back to their home in the 
mighty deep. Standing there a little while longer, I saw those 
lashing waves chase one another toward the beach, and I ob- 
served that each time they struck the shore they climbed higher 
and still higher in the sands upon the beach. Then I knew for 
a certainty that the tide of the great, broad, blue, grand Pacific 
ocean was coming in and was not going out. So standing here 
to-day in the presence of this magnificent audience of my own 



Speech Accepting the Nomination. 



9 



fellow citizens of West Virginia, and upon this vantage ground 
of truth, and looking out over this vast country of ours, I say 
to you to-day candidly and earnestly and honestly, that the 
great tide of public sentiment upon the questions of protection 
to American industries and American labor, and of reciprocity 
and of honest dollars, whether gold dollars or silver dollars or 
paper dollars,— that the tide of public sentiment upon all these 
great questions is coming toward the Republican party and is 
not going out. (Great applause). 

There is still another question to which I desire to allude. 
The Democratic party has hitherto,— and you know it is 
true — can always be depended upon to hook up to every 
craze that the modern political magician can devise. Its 
policy has been anything to beat Grant. It is for 16 to 1 
this year; and the Lord only knows whether it will be for 1 to 
16 next year. I have been in political life for over a quarter of 
a century, and during all that time the Democratic party has 
blocked the pathway of progress by denouncing everything 
good or bad that the Republican party has ever done during 
that period. It is the monumental denouncer of the nineteenth 
century. It denounced Abraham Lincoln as a rail splitter and 
a usurper. It denounced Grant as a tanner and a tyrant. It 
denounced our soldiers as Lincoln hirelings, and under Hoke 
Smith it denounced our soldiers entitled to pensions as paupers 
and frauds before the world. It denounced the Republican 
party as greenbackers during the war period, and you will re- 
member in the '70's it endorsed greenbacks as the best money 
the world had ever seen, and went so far as to advocate the rag 
baby as their little God, just as that old party is now denounc- 
ing us for not wantiug the free and unlimited manufacture of 
fifty cent dollars in this country. It denounced the Republican 
policy of protection as unconstitutional. It denounced the Mc- 
Kinley Bill, and now it denounces Bill McKinley. It denounced 
reciprocity as a delusion and a farce, and denounced the Repub- 
lican party for accumulating a surplus in the treasury of the 
Union with which to pay off our national debt; and you will re- 
member, my friends, that during the twenty-eight years from 
the close of the war up to 1893, when we turned this govern- 
ment over to the Democratic party, we had paid off in that time 
one billion eight hundred million dollars of our public debt, be- 
sides paying the running expenses of the government and the 



10 Public Addresses, Ac., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



interest on the balance of the debt. Did you ever hear, Mr. 
Chairman and fellow citizens, of a surplus in a Democratic 
treasury? Never. The only way they can get a surplus in their 
treasury is by borrowing it, as Mr. Cleveland is now doing; and 
still they go ahead in this denouncing business, and it seems to 
do them a power of good. I am happy to-day to see that they 
have gone into the laudable business of denouncing themselves 
and the Chicago platform. Cowboys to the front; statesmen 
to the rear; exit Hill and Whitney; enter pitchfork Tillman and 
Altgeld of Illinois. (Applause.) 

Now this same old party is denouncing the Republican party 
for having changed front on the money question. It has done 
nothing of the sort. The Republican party stands to-day ex- 
actly where it stood in 1873, when the standard of value was 
changed from silver to gold as the unit of measure. It has 
made no change whatever. The Republican party stands for 
bi-metallism; as in contra-distinction to gold or silver mono- 
metallism; but it is forever and eternally opposed to the free 
and unlimited coinage of silver at 16 to 1. (Applause.) 

All I ask of yoa is this; whenever a Democrat comes to you 
upon this question of money, just say to him, I remember your 
promises of 1892, when you promised the people of this country 
that your free trade policy would bring us an era of prosperity 
such as this country had never seen. Not a single promise has 
been fulfilled. If you could not trust a man in the past, how 
are you going to trust him in the future? If you cannot trust 
a party in the past by its past acts, how are you going to trust 
it in the future? 

One word more and I am done: It is too hot to talk to you 
today, yet I would like to talk two or three hours if I could. 
They tell us that the Republican party has accomplished its 
mission. I want to say to you that it has accomplished many 
missions, but it has not accomplished its one great mission. In 
its infancy it accomplished a mission by bringing California in- 
to the great sisterhood of states, uudefiled by human slavery 
and adorned like a bride in the glitter of her golden promise. 
In its earlier manhood it accomplished another mission, that 
of preserving intact our Constitution, and our flag, which were 
bequeathed to us by the fathers of the Republic. Under Cod, 
Mr. Chairman, and the leadership of Abraham Lincoln, (the 
biggest, bravest, brainiest man of our time and of all times,) it 



Speech Accepting the Nomination. 



11 



struck the shackles from the limbs of four million human 
bondsmen and made them free; and today, thank Clod, no- 
where beneath the shadow of the American flag*, can there be 
found the footprint of a single slave. (Applause.) It is now, 
in the dignity of its manhood, accomplishing another great 
mission, that of establishing for ourselves and our posterity 
forever the great principles of protection to American indus- 
tries and American labor, reciprocity and honest money of the 
nine different kinds which we have in circulation, so that we can 
hand them down to posterity as an untarnished heritage for all 
comiug time. These great principles have made this the most 
wonderful government beneath the circle of the sun. No, Mr. 
Chairman, the Republican party has not accomplished its mis- 
sion yet, nor will it go out of power until the prenicious doc- 
trine of English free trade, and the no less pernicious doctrine 
of the free and unlimited coinage of silver are buried so deep 
that the pick axe of the ages cannot dig them out of their 
graves of oblivion. 

When the Republican party goes down, it will go down pro- 
testing in the language of the Apostle to the Gentiles, "I have 
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the 
faith." With a platform upon which every honest American 
citizen can stand, and with candidates worthy of its great name 
and history, a majority of the liberty loving, law abiding mass 
of the United States, will in the future as in the past, stand by 
and endorse the principles of Lincoln and Grant, and Hayes 
and Garfield, and Arthur and Blaine, and Harrison and Mc- 
Kinley, — the principles of the Republican party which have 
made our government the foremost nation beneath the stars. 
I thank you again and again my fellow citizens for the honor 
which you have conferred upon me today. (Loud and pro- 
longed applause.) 



12 



Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS 

of Governor George W. Atkinson, of West Virginia. 



March 4, 1897. 



Fellow Citizens of West Virginia:— 

To the political party to which I have the honor to belong, 
and I trust to all the people of the State, this is an auspicious 
occasion. For twenty-six years the Democratic party has had 
exclusive control of our State Government. In a Republic it is 
not best that any political party should be kept in power too 
long*. I do not mean to convey the idea that continued power 
necessarily bring about dishonesty in the management of 
public affairs; but I do mean to s&y that any party, when too 
long in authority, necessarily becomes opinionated, and drops 
into ruts from which it cannot easily extricate itself. To get 
into the habit of thinking only in one particular channel, in 
acting one way, and doing everything in the selfsame manner, 
is disastrous to any individual, or class of individuals, and to 
a Government — State or National — as well. A Government is 
simply an aggregation of individuals, and whatever affects an 
individual citizen affects the Government in the same manner 
and in the same degree. Running in grooves will stunt, fossil- 
ize and necessarily render any individual lopsided. The same 
is true of any organized body of men, and of a State also. A 
lopsided, one-ideaed man is by no means an ideal citizen, even 
if he is not dangerous to the public weal; and the same is true 
of a lopsided political party. Hence, I say — and I do not desire 
to be considered as reflecting upon our Democratic friends, who, 
for more than a quarter of a century, have had exclusive con- 
trol of our State Government — that it is far better for all of 
our people, as well as infinitely better for the State itself, that 
we have, politically speaking, after this long lapse of years, 
"hung our gate on the other post." I am sure that we will lose 
nothing, and I trust that all of us, both Republicans and Dem- 
ocrats, will profit by the change. 

In West Virginia we have the elements of a great State. Her 



Inaugural Address. 



13 



natural advantages are perhaps superior to those of any other 
State in the Union. It behooves us, therefore, as good citizens, 
without regard to our political creeds or party affiliations or 
predilections, to do everything in our power to forward her in- 
terests, and to encourage her development, that we may enable 
her to reach the place that a beneficient Providence intended 
her to occupy,— the forefront of the great States of the Ameri- 
can Republic. It shall be my purpose in this patriotic work, to 
use my utmost endeavors to bring her vast resources to the 
attention of men of enterprise and wealth in the other States of 
the Union, and to do everything in my power to encourage her 
development, and thus advance the interests of all our people. 

To me, personally, my fellow citizens, this is agreat occasion, 
and one, I trust, I most thoroughly and fully appreciate. To 
be selected, without opposition, by the great political organiz- 
ation to which I have always had the honor to belong, to the 
first place within the gift of the citizens of my native State, and 
to be elected by a majority considerably in excess of that given 
to the Chief Magistrate of the Nation, who is also of my own 
political faith, and whose name was on the same ticket with my 
own, are compliments and honors which any one should most 
fully appreciate. 1 am, therefore, profoundly grateful to my 
fellow citizens for the high honors they have so cheerfully and 
willingly conferred upon me. 

Born and reared upon the sacred soil of your State, my inter- 
ests are yours, and your wishes shall be mine. My utmost en- 
deavors, I promise you, shall be exerted to administer our laws 
carefully, thoughtfully, fairly, impartially. I am a Republican, 
and everybody in West Virginia knows it, but as your Gover- 
nor, your chief executive officer, I shall be absolutely impartial 
in the enforcement of the law. 

In the distribution of patronage, I shall serve my party first; 
but in the execution of the trusts placed in my keeping by the 
people of my State, I shall know no party, class, race, or creed. 
My intention, therefore, is to be fair and just and impartial in 
the execution of the laws of the prosperous Commonwealth of 
West Virginia. In all public business transactions, therefore, a 
Democrat will be as welcome at the State House as a Republi- 
can. 

I desire here and now to assure my friends of all political par- 
ties, that it shall be my aim and purpose to require an honest 



14 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



and economical administration of all of our public institutions. 
I have selected for Directors and Regents of these various insti- 
tutions, the very best men within the limits of our Common- 
wealth. No Board appointed by me shall be without minority 
representation, whether the law requires it or not. With humil- 
iation I have seen more than one of our great State Institu- 
tions crippled and handicapped by partisan manipulations. I 
have seen our University, which ought to be greater than 
it is, wholly under the control of one political party for almost 
a generation. It pained me as a citizen to see it many times 
grossly mismanaged and cramped and hampered in the great 
work it was designed, by the law, that it should do for our peo- 
ple. For a score or more of years not a representative of the 
minoritjr party was allowed upon its Board of Regents. This 
was wrong — forever wrong. That condition will never occur 
again. If the law did not require it, I would give the minority 
party fair representation on the Board of Management of its 
affairs. 

Above all other things, politics should not be allowed to enter 
into our educational institutions. Under my administration, 
there will be no politics in our schools, from the infant department 
to the University, if my wishes are consulted. The people may 
depend on this. If I can prevent it, no teacher will be dismissed, 
if he is competent, because he is a Democrat, nor will one be em- 
ployed simply because he is a Republican. The age in which we 
live is too enlightened to allow anything like this to be done. 
Because our educational work has been prostituted to political 
purposes in the past, is no reason why it should be done in the 
future. It will not be done, if it is in my power to prevent it, 
and I do not arrogate too much to nwself to sa3 7 that I believe 
it is in my power to estop it, should it ever be attempted. 

Since the State University was placed under non-partisan con- 
trol two years ago, it has almost doubled in its attendance of 
students, and in its usefulness in educational work. Its curricu- 
lum is equal to any like school in the West or South. It shall 
be my purpose to do everything in my power to double its 
growth and usefulness during my administration. It is not 
claiming too much to say that this can be done. It is not ar- 
rogating too much to say that it will be done. Competency 
and efficiency will be the only requirements for its faculty. The 
question will not be asked as was the custom in a large part of 



Inaugural Address. 



15 



the past quarter of a century, "does the applicant with system- 
atic regularity vote the Democratic ticket?" I do not disparage 
men from voting the Republican ticket, but that will not avail 
them anything when they apply for a situation in our schools, 
unless they are otherwise educationally qualified for the posi- 
tions they seek. These pledges, my fellow citizens, I will faith- 
fully carry out. 

Much stress was placed upon corporations by our Democratic 
friends during the last campaign. Upon this question my views 
were expressed freely and without reserve all over the State. I 
never could see any good reason w 7 hy an incorporated body of 
men should be prosecuted or persecuted simply for the reason 
that it is a corporation. I am not now, nor was I ever an at- 
torney for an}^ corporation; but I have always sought to be 
fair with all individual citizens and all incorporated bodies as 
well. I have invariably opposed trusts, and I always shall; but 
when a number of men form themselves into a corporate body 
for proper business purposes, I never felt it to be my duty to 
throw obstacles in the way of their success. On the contrary, 
I have invariably deemed it to be my duty to aid them in all 
proper undertakings. West Virginia can never be developed 
without the encouragement of all such movements and enter- 
prises as these. It is a mistake to create prejudice against men 
who organize for legitimate purposes and pursuits. Instead of 
fewer corporations in West Virginia, we need more of them. In- 
stead of crushing out those we already have, it is our duty to in- 
vite others to come among us to aid us in the development of 
our almost inexhaustible natural resources. It shall be my 
unswerving aim to be fair and just towards all indviduals and 
corporations who may come to West Virginia during the next 
four years, to east their lots with us, and become citizens of our 
growing and prosperous Commonwealth. I will therefore take 
no stock now or ever in the nonsensical cry of "down with the 
rich men and corporations." Such talk is anarchy, and an- 
archy will never secure an enduring foothold in our "Switzer- 
land of America." The anarchists have said that they will 
blow us up. We will blow them up. Our civilization is too far 
advanced for our people to tolerate such a sentiment in West 
Virginia as that. Do not misunderstand me. I am not willing 
to surrender either our rights or our territory to trusts or 
monopolies. On the contrary, I promise carefully to guard the 



16 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



interests and the property of our people against the encroach- 
ments of monopolies and trusts. No trust owns me. Neither 
do the anarchists. I am wholly divorced from both of them, 
and always expect to be, and always intend to be. 

I shall require from our State Boards careful, economical and 
honest adrniuistration. I have chosen, as I have already said, 
the very best men in the Commonwealth as members of these 
Boards, and I have not sought to dominate them in the ap- 
pointment of subordinate officials. As far as in my power lies 
to prevent, there shall be no mismanagement of any of these 
institutions, or misappropriation of the public funds of the 
State. 

My observations in the past teach me that honest men will 
perform their public duties faithfully. For all these Boards I 
have selected men of the highest character and of established 
business qualifications, and I shall expect at their hands faith- 
ful administrations of these public trusts. In this connection I 
desire to pay proper tribute to my immediate predecessor, who, 
in my judgment, has done his very best to place our State insti- 
tutions on a higher plane than that of spoils. 

1 have in mind a number of suggestions as to needed amend- 
ments of our laws relative to our State institutions, which I 
will embody in my first message to the Legislature. 

One of these suggestions is the establishment of a curriculum 
in our present so-called Normal School at Huntington. We 
have no real Normal School in our State. We ought to have 
one. Our laws contemplate such a school, but unfortunately 
we have none. We should have one distinctive school of peda- 
gogy. A Normal School contemplates the education of teach- 
ers and nothing but teachers. By all means we should have 
one such school in West Virginia. Our so-called Normal Schools 
are only academies. We need, above everything else, a real 
Normal School for the training only of teachers. I hope to see 
the day when we shall have such a school in our State. We can 
have it. We must have it. We will have it. It may not be es- 
tablished during my administration, but in the fullness of time 
it will come. 

Another of these suggestions is the broadening of the scope 
of our State University. Its plan of work is not in accord, in 
many respects, with what it should be, to enable it to do the 
best possible work in educating the young men and women of 



Inaugural Address. 



17 



our State. There is a higher and broader field for it to occupy, 
which it has not hitherto included within the scope of its possi- 
bilities. 

Another of these suggestions is a regular and authorized offi- 
cer under the law, a chaplain to the State prison at Mounds- 
ville. In my judgment, it is a blot on West Virginia's good 
name that she has no one duly authorized to give his undivided 
time to the moral and spiritual natures of the men confined in 
that institution. These criminals are entitled to our careful 
consideration. We are derelict, if we fail to do anything and 
everything in our power to reform and regenerate these unfor- 
tunates. 

Another of these suggestions is an exact geological survey of 
our State. Such survey is the only means of giving to us a 
thorough knowledge of our great natural resources, which will 
enable us to prove authoritatively all that we claim for West 
Virginia. 

Another of these suggestions is the complete equipment of an 
Immigration Bureau, by which alone we can, by the authority 
of the State, present all of our natural advantages to those 
who are seeking homes, and who might come among us and 
cast their lots with us, if we can hold out proper inducements 
to encourage them to come. 

Still another of these suggestions is, whether it is wise to 
maintain the Irreducible School Fund, with a view of providing 
for the general educating of the children of the future, or wheth- 
er this fund, already accummulated, shall be used, by proper 
distribution, for the education of the children of the present 
generation. 

I am unalterably and forever opposed to everything like sec- 
tionalism. I am a Virginian, but at the same time, I am an 
American. In my estimation, the Nation is greater than a 
State. I stand for the United States first, and for West Vir- 
ginia next. I yield to none greater admiration for my native 
State; but with me it is always the United States first, and 
West Virginia secondly. The whole is greater than a part. 
The General Government is bigger than any one of its constitu- 
ent parts. I trust I shall always be big enough and broad 
enough to see beyond the integral to the w T hole. 

I am sincere, my fellow citizens, when I say that I believe 
West Virginia is entering upon a new era of unparalleled pros- 



18 Public Addresses, &C, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



perity. With seventeen thousand square miles of the best coal 
territory on the face of the earth; with oil and gas deposits 
thus far unequaled; with forests superior to those of any of our 
sister commonwealths; with a climate which cannot be excelled: 
with scenery for beauty and grandeur unsurpassed ; with a 
school system as good as the best; with courts fearless in the 
enforcement of the law; with Churches full abreast of the times: 
with as noble a class of natives as any on which the sun has 
ever shone; and with railroads building in, through and across 
our borders; with all of these advantages, why may I not con- 
clude that there is a great future before us as a people and a 
State? 

From our developing resources, we may look for money 
enough for all our needs, and with which we may be able to lift 
all of our public institutions to a higher plane of usefulness. 

West Virginia has not always had a big treasure chest over- 
running with gold, but as her resources increase it would be folly 
for her to be contented with the methods that were absolutely 
necessary in the past. Internal improvements, well patronized 
and subsidized schools, carefully provided and thoroughly 
equipped penal and charitable institutions, good roads, 
bridges, and all things of that sort, not only add to the com- 
fort and incite to the development of a State, but they pay for 
themselves every day in the conveniences they afford. The 
Mountain State started out in life with little heritage but 
boundless lo3 T alty and broad acres. She is making progress as 
fast as she can, with the assurance that every year will be bet- 
ter than the last. 

My fellow citizens, appreciating fully the responsibilities you 
have placed upon me by your suffrages, and asking from one 
and all your aid and your sympathies to enable me to dis- 
charge my public duties faithfully and well: and invoking the 
Divine blessing upon all of us in our public and private rela- 
tions, I am now ready to take upon myself the oath of office, 
and assume the responsibilities and burdens as the Chief Exec- 
utive of our State. 



West Virginia. 



19 



WEST VIRGINIA. 

Specially Written for The Tradesman Annual, No. XVIII. , by 
His Excellency, Geo. W. Atkinson, Governor of West 
Virginia. 



(From The Tradesman, Chattanooga, Tenn., January, 1897.) 

The industrial outlook for the South, it seems to me, is espe- 
cially hopeful. 

The "New South" idea is taking deep root in northern sec- 
tions where capital is more abundant, which, coupled with the 
natural advantages of nearly the entire southland, over much 
of the northern and all the eastern portions of the republic, will 
very soon bring about an industrial development hitherto un- 
precedented and unparalleled. Already several stubborn ob- 
stacles to the industrial development of our southern territory 
have been removed. 

I am sure capitalists feel more favorably disposed towards 
our Southern States as a field for investment than ever before. 
Northern men of means are beginning to understand that we 
of the South have profoundly at heart the general welfare, and 
especially the industrial progress of all other sections of our 
country as well as our own; and this naturally brings with a 
willingness on their part to invest their money with us, and 
thus lend a hand to enrich themselves and aid us to help our- 
selves along the lines of growth and progress. 

No one State in the South has made more rapid progress 
within recent years than has West Virginia, all things consider- 
ed, and none presents a more inviting field for investment. The 
State is almost a solid bed of bituminous coal, and millions of 
acres of her domain are yet virgin forests of the most valuable 
timber of many varieties. 

Though the work of developing these rich resources has been 
going on for several years and much capital has been invested, 
yet it ma} T be said that scarcely a beginning has been made, 
and thousands upon thousands of acres of the richest coal 
lands in America are yet untouched. Of the 17,000 square 
miles of coal territory, but a very small proportion has been 



20 Public Addbesses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



opened, and the development of what is to be a vast lumber in- 
dustry is only in its infancy. In addition to all this, and other 
mineral resources besides coal not yet developed, the valleys, 
and even the hill sides, of West Virginia, are as fertile as the 
blue grass region of Kentucky, presenting an inviting field for 
the home seeker, the small farmer and the grazer, most of the 
State .being especially adapted for wool growing. 

So much has been written about the wealth of West Vir- 
ginia's resources that it is scarcely necessary here to do more 
than to refer to them. However, in behalf of the claim that the 
future of the State is bright with promise, I may be permitted 
to summarize briefly a few of the advantages presented to in- 
vestors. In the first place no State in the Union has a more de- 
sirable climate. The mean annual temperature ranges from 54 
to 55 degrees and the maximum is rarely above 95, while the 
rainfall is from 40 to 50 inches annually. 

The Resources. 

The timber which covers the State, not over thirty per cent, 
of the land being cleared, is wonderful in variety and quality 
and value. The forests are rich in chestnut, black walnut, 
cherry, ash, poplar, hickory, locust, maple, oak, white pine, 
yellow pine, hemlock, spruce and cedar. 

Only a small portion of the 17,000 square miles of coal terri- 
tory has been developed and yet the State already is second in 
coke production, and will this year take high rank in coal pro- 
duction. There are paying deposits of iron ore in several sec- 
tions, and recently, in the southern part of the State, a magni- 
ficent bed of black marble has been discovered. The finest fire- 
clay, sand and lime stone exists everjnvhere. The surface of the 
land is rich and fertile and adapted for successful farming and 
grazing. In addition to becoming a great mining center, the 
State is naturally destined to become one of the greatest manu- 
facturing States in the Union; and already iron and steel works, 
glass factories, potteries, pulp mills and large lumber mills are 
springing up and giving employment to many people. 

Our educational system is well nigh perfect. We have no 
State debt. Taxes are low. The people are intelligent, law- 
abiding and progressive. Most of the industrial development 
is along the lines of the three great railroads that traverse the 



West Virginia. 



21 



State and their tributary lines. These are the Baltimore and 
Ohio, the Chesapeake and Ohio and the Norfolk and Western. 
Other important roads on which great coal, coke, lumber and 
manufacturing industries are building up are the Ohio River 
road, the West Virginia Central, the Kanawha and Michigan, 
the Monongahela River and West Virginia and Pittsburg 
roads. The vast interior, rich in coal, iron and timber, is yet 
scarcely touched by railroads, but in the near future it will be, 
and already capital is looking that way, several roads being 
projected which will open up a great region, richer even than 
those which have been developed. 

What West Virginia wants most, and will soon have, are 
capital and better means of ingress and egress. More railroads 
into the heart of theSta/fce will soon make it one of the greatest 
Commonwealths, in point of wealth and population, in the 
Union. Two of our principal rivers have been locked and dam- 
med, and we have the Ohio river along our western border, but 
more of our internal streams should be slacked to accommo- 
date heavy freightage. 

A mention of the prospects before West Virginia would not 
be complete without a reference to the great oil development 
which has contributed, and continues to contribute, so much 
to the wealth of the state. This development in the northern 
section has already reached vast proportions and many for- 
tunes have been made. Prospecting is going on further south, 
toward the Kentucky line, with almost daily discoveries of new 
territory. 

That West Virginia is destined to be the greatest oil producing 
as well as the greatest coal producing State in the Union is be- 
yond a doubt. Taking into consideration all her magnificent 
resources and the fact that capital has begun already to flow 
in, with other capital making inquiries, mines and manufactor- 
ies opening everywhere, new railroads being projected, etc., the 
outlook for the State is more than promising. 

As to how the industrial and material interests of the South- 
ern States can be best subserved, my opinion is and always has 
been that we should extend a warm hand of welcome to men of 
wealth and enterprise living outside our borders, in sections of 
country not half so rich as ours, who ma} 7 be seeking invest- 
ments and desiring to locate in our midst. I know my own 
State well enough to say for all our people that amy one will be 



22 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson*. 



hospitably received who may come to West Virginia, nor will 
any legitimate enterprise be hampered by illiberal legislation. 
This liberal course has been the State's policy of recent years, 
and every Southern State should pursue a like policy. It pays. 
Our laws should be rigidly enforced and protection to life and 
property be guaranteed to every citizen of whatever race or 
condition. Economy and progressiveness in State government 
are essentials also. 

The South' \s Greatest Weakness. 

I consider our greatest weakness in the South the lack of cash 
capital to open up our numerous resources, and the need of 
better railroad facilities and improved waterways for purposes 
of transportation. Large investments are rarely made except 
in localities that are within railroad angles of competition. 
Whether it is true or false, manufacturers generally believe that 
it is unsafe to build a mill or factory at a point not touched by 
more than one railroad. 

Hence, large numbers of railroads, crossing or tapping one 
another, if natural advantages are at hand, will cause the con- 
struction of like large numbers of industrial enterprises. More 
railroads mean more mills and factories, mines and forges. 
More facilities for getting in and out mean more thrift and en- 
terprise and wealth, and the South, in many localities, is defi- 
cient in all of them. 

Another drawback, which, however, is by no means general 
in the South, but is confined to some localities, is an apparent 
lack or respect for law and order. I firmly believe that this 
alone has done us great injury, and has been a serious hind- 
rance to our growth and prosperity. Happily, our courts are 
more vigorous in the punishment of crime than they have been 
in former years, and this great impediment to our development 
is each year growing less. Sectional feeling, too, which was an 
outgrowth of war between the States, has rapidly disappeared, 
and with the wiping out of the last vestige will come the new 
era for which we have all been hoping. 

The question of how immigration to the South can best be 
promoted is capable of a wide discussion, and yet it is simply 
answered. Each Southern State must keep constantly before 
the people of the whole country, as well as before foreign capi- 
tal, as far as it may be done, the natural advantages which 



West Virginia. 



23 



each possesses, and urge men of enterprise and means to come 
and see for themselves and verify our representations. In other 
words, we should advertise what we have to sell or trade. 

Every State would gain largely by having a competent Com- 
missioner of Immigration, and legislatures should provide 
reasonably liberal appropriations to meet the legitimate ex- 
penses of keeping up such an establishment. And finally, as in- 
timated above, prejudices of every and all kinds against men of 
Northern birth should be buried so deep that the pick-axe of 
the ages could not dig them out. The cry of "carpet bagger" 
should never again be heard in the land. 

We should take a new citizen by the hand with as much 
warmth and favor as if he were a native born. In the West 
every man who has been in the State a year is placed on the 
same footing with those that are native born. This is right. 
If our Southern people would act in that manner the popula- 
tion of the South would double in a score of years. 

In advertising to the world what we have to offer and in in- 
viting capital and homeseekers to come and cast their lots 
with us, we should not be over modest. 

In fact, we could scarcely be extravagant in presenting our 
claims, for we have been richly blessed by the Creator with nat- 
ural resources that are but awaiting the magic touch of capi- 
tal to bring forth abundant fruit. 

Let the world know that we have a land the fertility of which 
promises rich reward for the industrious farmer and planter; 
that our mountains are stored with mineral wealth untold, 
which needs but the money of the enterprising investor to be 
developed; that we have the finest timber in the Union; that no 
better climate on earth exists; that our people are hospitable, 
intelligent and law-abiding; that our public school system, our 
colleges and universities afford educational facilities which are 
unsurpassed; that our social and religious advantages are as 
good as the best, and that the whole wide world presents no 
finer land, no more inviting field for home and industrial life. 

George W. Atkinson. 



24 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



FARM MACHINERY 

Twenty- Five Years Hence, by the Governor of West Virginia. 

(From Farm Machinery, St. Louis, Mo., February 16, 1898.) 

State of West Virginia, Executive Chamber, 
Charleston, December 27, 1897. 
Mr. C. K. Reifsnider, Editor "Farm Machinery:'' Dear Sir:— 
Your letter of the 6th inst. was mislaid, and I have just come 
upon it. I regret the delay. The development of the agricul- 
tural resources of the United States, during the last twenty-five 
years, has been marvelous. I attribute this growth, principal- 
ly, to two facts, namely: 
First, the use of improved agricultural machinery, and 
Second, the education and intellectual development of the 
people. 

In those States where farm lands are comparatively level, 
one man, with modern farm implements, can do the work of 
perhaps half a dozen who pursued their avocations the old 
w T ay. Now-a-days, farmers cut their wheat, mow their hay, 
and plow their corn riding in sulkies, so to speak. These 
methods render farming comparatively easy, and necessarily, 
make it more profitable. Looking backward twenty -five years, 
I can scarcely imagine what the coming quarter of a century 
will bring to our people in the way of improved methods in ag- 
ricultural pursuits. It may be that a large part of farm work, 
in the years to come, will be done by electricity and electrical 
appliances instead of by what we now term "modern methods.'' 

My own State has made wonderful headway during the past 
two decades. Our farm lands and buildings have increased in 
value fifty per cent. Implements and farm machinery, nearly 
one hundred per cent. Our product in corn has nearly doubled. 
Irish potatoes have increased two hundred per cent. Hay, 
nearly one hundred per cent. Apples and other fruits have 
more than doubled in the past twenty years. We are moving 
forward at a steady rate in our farm interests, and our growth 
is largely attributable to new methods of farming and the use 
of improved farm implements. Very respectfully, 

Gr. W. Atkinson, Governor. 



The New Old Dominion. 



25 



'THE NEW OLD DOMINION." 

Remarks by Governor G. W. Atkinson, of West Virginia, before 
the Marquet Club Celebration, February 12, 1897, 
at Auditorium Hotel, Chicago, Illinois. 



Mr. Toastmaster and Gentlemen: — In the "New Old Do- 
minion" old things have passed away and all things have be- 
come new. We dig coal in that prosperous Commonwealth; we 
don't dig silver. Consequently, when we voted last fall, we de- 
cided that it wouldn't pay us to close our coal mines for the 
purpose of aiding Mr. Bryan and the silver kings to open up 
their silver mines in the sage brush of the north-west. The 
"Mountain State," therefore, in the campaign of 1896, hung 
her gate on the other post, and she has hung it there to stay. 
The "Old Dominion" herself would have done the same thing, 
if a fair and impartial expression of her voters had been record- 
ed. Both of these States are sick and tired of "Solid South" 
isms. Both of them are endowed with natural advantages be- 
yond perhaps those of any of the other States. West Virginia, 
my friends, is the eternal center of coal and gas and oil and 
timber and of stalwart Republicanism also. Unfortunately, 
for more than a quarter of a century, our State government 
had tied us to the South, with which section we had no trade or 
community of interest, thus preventing us from forming alli- 
ances for progressive development with the States north and 
east and west of us, that possessed wealth and enterprise which 
otherwise would have been ours at our bidding. But thank 
God, the Gordian Knot has been cut, the shorelines have been 
parted, and we are now launching out upon the great sea of 
Republican progress. The sun doesn't shine upon a nobler and 
braver people than the rugged mountaineers of "The New Old 
Dominion." They have been shamefully hampered in the past 
by faithless leaders, who appealed only to their prejudices and 
their passions. The masses, therefore, must not be blamed for 
that. At last the scales have fallen from their eyes. They 
have turned over a new leaf in the diary of time. They have 
wiped out forever the imaginary line which divided the North 



26 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



from the South. Go there with me to-night, and they cannot 
tell you where the North ends or the South begins, nor can you 
discover it yourselves. From this time forth we are with .you, 
heart and soul, in any and every movement which stands for 
good government, good citizenship, and a healthy and vigor- 
ous development of a genuine American polic} r . I would have 
you bear in mind, my friends, that West Virginia stood loyally 
by President Lincoln through all the years of our fratricidal 
war, and it was during his administration that she was 
brought into the great sisterhood of States. 

Airy intelligent man, it seems to me, who has carefully studied 
the facts and conditions of the campaign of 1890, must be con- 
vinced that the triumph of sound money is final, and can never 
be reversed in those States that gave pluralities to the Republi- 
can party. No one can sa}< that there was anything nap-haz- 
ard or accidental in the verdicts that they rendered at the polls. 
A renewed contest will increase, instead of diminish the majori- 
ties in all of those States. That issue was sprung only as a 
vote catcher — a sort of a political rabbit's-foot with which to 
hoodoo the people. It spread at first like a prairie fire; but 
when reason, experience, common sense and the ordinary rules 
of business were applied to it, its deceptive hollowness was read- 
ily seen. It was hollower, even, than the heads of the men who 
sprung it as a National issue in politics. It raged for a time 
like a cyclone, but it passed away, and will not, in my judg- 
ment, return again to haunt us in your day or mine. 

The tariff is the only real great issue in the American Repub- 
lic. Whether we shall keep the fires blazing in our own fur- 
naces, coke ovens, factories and forges, instead of rekindling 
those in foreign countries as was done by the existing tariff 
law, is the great, vital question before the American people to- 
day. The employment of our own labor upon our own soil, for 
the purpose of working up our own raw materials, and keeping 
our money at home instead of sending it abroad to purchase 
foreign manufactured articles, and by this means of employ- 
ment enrich and develop our own country a,nd advance the in- 
terests of our own people, is a proposition so plain and reason- 
able that any one — even a Democrat— ought to see and under- 
stand it. They do see it. The voters saw it on the 3d day of 
November last, when they rolled up almost a million majority 
for protection to American labor, American manufactures and 



The New Old Dominion. 27 



American farmers. It is true that the money question was par- 
amount in the discussions, but the tariff, my friends, was the 
under-tow that swept McKinley into the White House. The 
"New Old Dominion" is for both Protection and Sound Money, 
and she is safely moored in the Republican harbor for a gener- 
ation to come. 

Free trade and free silver may be thrust upon us again as 
temporary campaign issues, but they will again go down. 
Doubtless Democratic leaders may have the temerity to again 
insist that the Republican party has accomplished its mission, 
but it can not be established. It has accomplished many mis- 
sions, it is true, but its real mission is yet unfulfilled. In its in- 
fancy as a party, it accomplished a mission by neutralizing the 
effects which followed the repeal of the Missouri compromise, 
by saving freedom to the Territories of the great northwest, 
and bringing California into the sisterhood of States, undefiled 
by human slavery and adorned like a bride in the glitter of her 
golden promise. In its early manhood it accomplished another 
mission during four years of fratricidal war, by declaring, that 
in the future as in the past, we will have but one constitution, 
one hag, one destiny. Under God, it accomplished another 
mission, when Abraham Lincoln, who was the greatest, biggest, 
broadest, brainiest, bravest man of our times, and of all times, 
whose memory we celebrate to-night, broke the shackles from 
the limbs of four million human bondsmen and made them free; 
and to-night, thank God, nowhere beneath the shadow of the 
American flag can there be found the footprint of a single slave. 
Standing as it has always done for the greatest principle which 
our political economy can possibly teach, namely: The protec- 
tion of American industries and American labor, it also accom- 
plished another great mission. And in the last campaign it ac- 
complished still another important mission by standing, as it 
did, in the dignity of full fledged manhood, like a stone wall, for 
good government and sound money. Its real mission will not 
be accomplished until free trade and free silver and all other 
isms and idiosyncrasies of so-called modern Democracy are bu- 
ried so deep that the pick-axe of the ages cannot dig them from 
their graves of oblivion. When the Republican party goes 
down, it will go to its grave exclaiming, as did the great Apos- 
tle to the Gentiles, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished 
my course, I have kept the faith." 



28 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



The Republican party is a party of the living and not of the 
dead. To act, to assume responsibilities, to confront emergen- 
cies, to go at every problem to solve and settle it — this is the 
genius of the Republican party. It despises evasion. It de- 
tests compromises. It rejoices in opportunity. Endeavor is its 
element — opposition its quickening spirit. It is the party for 
young men to live in and for old men to die in. The Republi- 
can party keeps its face to the future and grapples only with 
living issues, while the Democratic party, forever protesting, 
follows in its wake, and its darkened, gloomy pathway is dimly 
lighted by the smouldering camp-fires of the party of progress. 
Our party lives in the present — the other in the past. The Re- 
publican party has never failed to meet every issue squarely. 
It has never failed to fulfill all of its promises to the people. 
Why, my friends, for more than a quarter of a century, nearly 
every line of American history is but the life story of the Re- 
publican party. 

Not one of the material pledges and promises of the Demo- 
cratic party made to the people in 1892 has been fulfilled. 
They promised us bread and gave us a stone. They promised 
us fish and they gave us a serpent. They promised us good 
times, and gave us desolation and despair. They promised us 
a tariff for revenue only and gave us a tariff for deficiency only. 
They promised us to fill the National treasury with money, and 
filled it instead with a vacuum bigger and broader than the 
boundary of your magnificent city of Chicago; and they tell 
us in the East that it embraces a big slice of the rich cornfields 
of the great State of Illinois. There are only two animals on 
the earth that can live wholly on wind— one is the horned frog 
of Texas, and the other is the modern Democratic party of the 
United States. A political party that had the nerve to insist 
on this great government of ours going into the business of 
the free and unlimited manufacture of 50 cent dollars, ought to 
be pickled in alcohol, and preserved as a curiosity and a freak 
for the people to look upon through all the generations that 
are to come after us. 

In conclusion, my friends, I remark again that the Republi- 
can victory of last year was complete and enduring. With a 
platform of principles upon which every true American could 
stand, and with a candidate worthy of its great name and his- 
tory, there was welded together into an inconquerable army, 



The American Flag. 



29 



an overwhelming majority of the liberty -loving, law-abiding 
voters of the Republic, who, in the future as in the past, will be 
found advocating the principles of the political party of Lin- 
coln and Grant and Hayes and Garfield and Arthur and Harri- 
son and Blaine and McKinley— the greab Republican party 
which has placed the United States in the front rank of the na- 
tions of the earth. 



ADDRESS 

of Governor Atkinson, accepting an American Flag presented 
by the Junior 0. U. A. M. to the Ben wood, 
W. Va., Public School. 



February 22, 1897. 



(From the Wheeling Intelligencer.) 

The North Ben wood public school was the scene of a great 
demonstration Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock, in recognition 
of Washington's birthday, and the presentation of a large 
American flag by the Red, White and Blue Council of Junior 
Order of American Mechanics, of McMechen. 

The exercises began at 2 o'clock, under the direction of the 
superintendent of the school, assisted by Miss Dare and other 
teachers. There were a number of patriotic recitations and 
songs by the children, which evidenced care on the part of the 
teachers in drilling them for the occasion. 

Rev. G. W. Grimes, of Moundsville, on behalf of the McMechen 
Council, presented a large flag to the school. His speech was 
chaste, patriotic, and at many points was really eloquent. It 
was exceedingly appropriate for the occasion. At the conclu- 
sion of Rev. Mr. Grimes' address, Hon. G. W. Atkinson, who 
had been selected by the school board, responded as follows: 

My friends, this is a year of undisputed Americanism in our 
Republic. This is a year above all others within my recollec- 
tion, when the flood-tide of patriotism has touched its highest 



30 Public Addresses. &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



point in the heart of the true American citizen. This is the 
year, my fellow citizens, when the American flag hangs the 
highest, floats the grandest, is the most respected, and is loved 
the dearest by all of our people, than at any past period of our 
Nation's history. Truly Patrick Henry builded wiser than he 
knew, when he said: "I hail the day as not far distant when it 
will be regarded the proudest exclamation of man, 'I am an 
American.' " That day, my friends, has fully come. 

All patriots rejoice that organized bodies of men all over this 
country have made it their duty to teach patriotism to the ris- 
ing generation by unfurling flags from our public school build- 
ings on the anniversary of the birth of the Father of Our Coun- 
try, and allowing these flags to become the property of the 
schools, without money and without price. All honor to such 
patriotic, liberty -loving bands of men. 

On behalf of the board of trustees and teachers of this public 
school, I accept this elegant star spangled banner to-day, and 
in receiving it, I am sure I speak for these school officers and 
teachers when I say that they will honor it more and serve the 
principles it represents better than they have ever done before. 
I declare, my friends, that our free schools come short of their 
duty, if they fail to teach patriotism to our children, because 
reverence for our flag is the life-blood of the republic. Lieutan- 
ant Cummins, at Chicamaugua, spoke for all patriots, while 
leading his company in a charge upon the enemy, lost one of 
his legs, and as he fell, cried out, "I'll loose the other, boys, if 
you'll carry our flag to victory;" and they did it. 

My fellow countrymen, the century that is quietly, but grand- 
ly rolling out, is the greatest of all the centuries of the ages. It 
has been great in achievement, great in development, great in 
conquest, great in loyalty to principle, great in culture and re- 
finement, and great in patriotism also. Some of the old centu- 
ries were wonderful in the physical prowess of many of the na- 
tions, some in literature and poetiy, and some in music and in 
art. When this century opened its portals and let its light shine 
in upon the new Continent, the Old World was arrayed in arms. 
Blood was sprinkled upon almost every doorway, and women 
were weeping at their fire-sides. But the new century brought 
us an era of peace, which, barring two small "brushes", hov- 
ered o'er us for more than fifty years. And while the pres- 
ent century like the last is going out amid clouds of war, yet 



The American Flag. 



31 



the warfare in which our American people engaged w r as not a 
warfare for greed or gain. On the contrary, it was for the lib- 
eration of mankind. Wars for spoils only are passing with the 
sweep of the years. In these days of higher civilization such 
conflicts are detested by the great mass of mankind. These 
modern times have grown too good and great and strong to 
allow the spread of empire by the sword. On the contrary, pa- 
triotism and peace are now on the highest tide of the world's' 
history, and it will sweep on to universal victory. 

True patriotism calls for a parliament of peace. When men 
went into battle with spears and swords, they could afford to 
fight; but with the modern implements and weapons of war- 
fare, all brave nations are practically invincible. War, there- 
fore, is brutal now, and should be classed as a crime against 
civilization. In their stead have come parliaments of peace. 
To these the great nations are coming with their flags, and 
they will be stacked together as they talk over misunderstand- 
ings, and arrange for closer and more intimate relations for the 
future. 

My countrymen, how much of pain has ceased because of this 
enlightened civilization. How marvelously learning and liberty 
and law have prevailed. No blood, no sorrow, no tears. The 
simple thought of this condition makes us love our own flag 
all the more. As we bring our starry emblem and plant it in 
these parliaments of peace, we are reminded that it was first 
unfurled by our fathers against the mistress of the ocean 
world, and 

For it they fought, for it they fell, 

And their oath on it was laid; 
To it the clarion raised its swell, 

And the dying warrior prayed. 

It was bequeathed to us by the patriots of the Revolution, 
and preserved for us and our posterity by the patriots of 1861 
to 1865. It is ours by inheritance, and we will stand by it for- 
ever. 

My friends, the watchword of the coming century will be, 
peace, not war; patriotism, not disloyalty; education, not ig- 
norance; work, not shirking; sobriety, not drunkenness; hon- 
esty, not greed, and lend a hand to all that is good and en- 
nobling. This will bring to all mankind a golden age such as 
the world has not hitherto seen. 



82 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



The hope of the future is the public school of to-day. It is 
the basis of patriotism and the bulwark of liberty. The de- 
gree of the education of our children will gauge the degree of 
the civilization of the State. Educated masses make peaceful 
masses. Education has ever been the gauge of progress. Hu- 
manity is uplifted wholly by it. There is no growth in any 
thing without it. Every dollar spent by the State in educating 
its citizens is $2.00 saved in actual outlay to keep the peace 
and maintain the law. 

More education, fewer police officers; more school houses, 
fewer almshouses; more school teachers, fewer convicts; higher 
conceptions of religion and duty follow the higher education of 
all classes. Education and religion move hand in hand, there- 
fore, the State should foster both. 

As American citizens we should hold it as a first duty to 
stand by our public schools. They are schools of patriotism, 
and the man who attempts to pull them down is not a true 
American, not a true patriot. Every public school building is 
a natural pedestal for an American flag, and it is supremely 
proper that the stars and stripes should kiss the breeze from 
the top of every one of them. 

As an American, I rejoice that there is a growing admiration 
for our national ensign and our national institutions. Patriot- 
ism has had a wonderful up-lift in these closing years of the 
nineteenth century, and our patriotic organizations have had 
much to do in building up this sentiment. 

Sail on, thou glorious ship of State, 

Sail on, thou Union strong' and great; 

Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea, 

Our hearts, our hopes are all with thee; 

Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, 

Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, 

Are all with thee, are all with thee. 



The speeches were applauded vigorously, and were highly ap- 
preciated by the large audience. The McMechen brass band 
furnished music for the occasion. 



Memorial Address. 



33 



ADDRESS 

At Mem oi-ial Service of Mound City Lodge No. 13, I. O. 0. F. 
Moundsville, W. Va., the Late J. L. Parkinson, Esq., 
Being the Subject of the Eulogy. 



My brothers, my friends and fellow citizens: 

"Come wealth, or want, come good or ill: 

Let young and old accept their part, 
And bow before the Awful Will, 

And bear it with an honest heart. 
Who misses or who wins the prize — 

Go, lose or conquer as you can, 
But if you fail, or if you rise, 

Be each, pray God, a gentleman." 

Thackeray never wrote more aptly than he did in this simple 
stanza. 

I wish to say with emplasis, my hearers, in the outset of my 
remarks, that our late Brother J. L. Parkinson was pre-emi- 
nently at all times a gentleman. Ahvays positive and pro- 
nounced in his opinions; always squarely on one side or the 
other of any and all important questions; always dignified; al- 
ways conservative; always careful and thoughtful, and yet he 
was always, in the strictest sense, a gentleman. Such a man is 
sadly missed when called from the throng of the living. When 
a king is dethroned the people rejoice, but when a good man 
dies the people mourn. 

The true gentleman is known by his strict sense of honor, by 
his sympathy, his gentleness, his forbearance, and his generos- 
ity. He is essentially a man of truth, speaking and doing 
rightly, not merely in the sight of men, but in his secret and 
private behavior. Truthfulness is moral transparency, and is 
the very centre itself of genuine manhood. 

No better description of the Christian gentleman can be found 
than that given by the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians, XIII, 4- 
8: "Charity suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not; 
charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave 
itself unseemly, seeketh not her own; is not easily provoked, 
thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the 



34 



Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



truth; beareth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 
Charity never faileth." 

The late Cardinal Manning, who was wiser than his genera- 
tion, when speaking at Birmingham of the possible dangers to 
England, mentioned the four seas and the four virtues. He 
said he did not put his trust in the four seas— he put none in 
the silvery streak; but he did place his trust in those four great 
national virtues— of prudence, which made perfect the intellect; 
of justice which made the perfect will; of temperance, which taught 
men to master themselves in the solicitations of pleasure; and of 
fortitude, which made them strong in suffering and in difficulty. 

No man, in all my acquaintance, more fully exemplified in his 
every day life the four cardinal virtues, to which the great Car- 
dinal Manning alluded so aptly, than did our deceased Brother 
Parkinson. 

The life of man in this world is for the most part a life of con- 
test—a life of toil; but every man worth calling a man should 
be willing to work. "No one can maintain social respect, honor 
and responsibility without honest toil." As we have said 
Brother Parkinson was a gentleman, so also was he a toiler— a 
worker. He found the secret in early life that work wins, and 
by that sign he conquered. It cannot be questioned that work 
is the best of educators, because it forces men into contact with 
one another, and with situations as they really are. In all the 
ages the worthiest men have been the most industrious in their 
callings, the most sedulous in their investigations, the most 
heroic in their undertakings. Indeed, to the work of hand and 
brain, the world is mainly indebted for its intelligence, its learn- 
ing, its advancement, and its civilization. Some men are en- 
dowed with inborn genius, with natures quick and agile; but 
they cannot avoid the penalty of persevering toil. Labor, how- 
ever, is not a penalty; work, with hope, is a pleasure. St. Aug- 
ustine aptly remarked, "There is nothing so laborious as not 
to labor. Blessed is he who devotes his liff to great and noble 
«ends, and who forms his well-considered plans with deliberate 
wisdom." Aristottle once said that happiness is a certain 
energy, and that most men have opportunities without end for 
promoting and securing their own happiness. Stray moments, 
improved and fertilized, never fail to yield brilliant results. 

Ruskin insists that "We have among mankind in general the 
three orders of being: the lowest— sordid and selfish— which 



Memorial Address. 



35 



neither sees nor feels; the second — noble and sympathetic, but 
which neither sees nor feels without concluding- or acting; and 
the third and highest, which loses sight in resolution and feeling 
in work." 

Always a sufferer, and never physically strong, our deceased 
brother, as Ruskin says, lost sight of suffering by constant toil 
and persevering effort. "Not a day without a line" (nulla dies 
sine linea) was the motto of Appelles, and it has been the motto 
of every man who left his impress upon the times in which he 
lived. Our brother, long years ago, mastered the secret that 
everything depends upon will and willingness, and where the 
will is ready the ways are never wanting. The spring that 
issues from the mountain crest as a brook, by the accumula- 
tion of streamlets becomes a rivulet, then a mighty rolling 
river, and eventually part of tue fathomless ocean itself, simply 
by pushing steadily and persistently onward. Thus it was with 
our brother whose memory we are feebly honoring today. 

Brother Parkinson had his share of suffering, and more. He 
learned, however, in early life that although suffering is a heavy 
plow driven by an iron hand, and while it cuts deeply into re- 
bellious soil, still it opens up to the fertilizing influences of na- 
ture that which often results in the richest crops. Even antag- 
onisms of the severest kinds often are man's greatest blessings. 
They evoke strength, perseverance and energy of character. 
Thus it is that one's antagonists become his helpers. The Bi- 
ble tells us that "the lame take the prey." The weak often 
prove to be the stronger, because they win the greatest vic- 
tories. Paul's "thorn in the flesh," which was supposed to be 
epilepsy, doubtless caused him to study and think and work in 
order to keep his mind off his physical infirmity; and Paul, the 
Apostle to the Gentiles, towers above all other men of his time, 
and of all times, as the Alleghenies tower above the ant hills of 
the plains. Richard Baxter, author of "Saints Rest," never 
without pain, wrote more books that will live longer than the 
writings of any other man perhaps, who was contemporaneous 
with him. George Whitefield, frail and fragile as a flower, was 
the greatest preacher of his time. John Summerfield, whose 
utterances were as the voice of an angel, never drew a healthy 
breath. Sir Walter Scott's best novels and poetry were written 
while he was prostrate on beds of sickness. Lord Byron, who 
walked with a crutch, wrote poetry which will be read and ad- 



36 



Public Addresses, &c. 3 of Gov. (}. W. Atkinson. 



mired as long as the English language endures. The great poet 
Cowper was half the time insane. Francis Bacon, "the wisest 
and meanest of men," was weak in body and build. Dante was 
a dyspeptic. Pope was a hunch back. Homer and Milton were 
blind when they did their best work. Alexander and Napoleon 
were striplings. Demosthenes was a stammerer, and hundreds 
of others equally prominent and distinguished in the world's 
history, whose utterances and records will endure forever, were 
disabled, diseased or deformed. Brother Parkinson, although 
crippled in his youth, held his own with the best minds of his 
county and his State. The inspired penman was, therefore, pre- 
eminently correct when he said, "The lame take the prey." 

If I were to offer a criticism upon my deceased brother Parkin- 
son to-day, I would say he worked too much. He went down 
in the prime of life, and had he conserved his strength he 
might have been spared to his family, his friends and his State 
for many years to come. To every human creature, nature 
opens her infinite range of inexhaustible stores of charms. If 
we only knew how to call our minds off the drudgery of toil, and 
survey and study her rich variety, examine her proceedings and 
pierce into her secrets, what a blessing it would be to those per- 
sons who are prone to overtax body and brain. 

Our deceased brother and friend was wedded to the law. He 
never could get away from it. Indeed, he never tried. He 
never allowed anything to draw 7 his attention from his business. 
His chosen profession, next to his family, was nearest to his 
heart. Unlike the most of his associates and friends, he would 
not even allow politics to come between his law-books and him- 
self. He never held but one political office, and that was dis- 
tinctively in the line of his profession— prosecuting attorney of 
his county. I myself more than once insisted upon him to be- 
come a candidate for political preferment, and the answer he 
gave me was in terms, if not in words, "get thee behind me,"— I 
am glad he did not say the rest. 

Some men have drifted away from the professions they quali- 
fied themselves to ornament and fill, and succeeded in their new 
callings. Blackstone gave up poetry for the law 7 . Voltaire, 
and other thousands equally distinguished, threw dow r n the 
law r for letters and the sciences. Others have gone from the law 
into the ministry, and still others from the ministry into the 
law. Others by thousands have given up the learned professions 



Memorial Address. 



37 



for the weird, wily field of politics, mainly for the fascinations 
that it brings, and many of them have had, and will have all 
the balance of their lives to find out the awful mistake they 
made. But John Lloyd Parkinson stuck to his calling, not 
veering to the right or the left, wise man as he was, and he 
never regretted the choice that he made. Would that I could 
say as much for scores and hundreds of other friends of mine, 
living and dead. 

The last time I talked with him, seeing that he was failing, I 
told him that all men must have variety and rest; that the great 
poet Dante frequently exchanged his pen for the painter's 
brush; that Michael Angelo often went from painting to sonnet 
writing for rest; that Leanardo da Vinci was many sided in his 
work; that Bosetti was as great in poetry as in painting; that 
Sir Humphrey Davy and Wallaston were fly-fishers; Sir Walter 
Scott was aforester and farmer; Oliver Goldsmith was a tramp: 
Disraeli and Gladstone wrote books for recreation and rest; 
Sir John Lubbock gave a portion of his time to the study of 
ants and bees and wasps as a relief from the sterner duties of 
life; and Dr. Lyman Beecher, one of the greatest of divines, was 
a fiddler. In short, that it was a common occurrence for men 
to drift away from the professions which they had qualified 
themselves to fill, when they found their health was giving 
away under the pressure of constant toil. 

But all this persuading went as naught. He only laughed 
and informed me that he preferred to wear out rather than rust 
out, Thus overtaxing his constitution, which was never ro- 
bust, he went down just a little while after his sun had reached 
its noon, whereas with less pressure and toil he might have ad- 
ded a score of years to his useful life. It is, however, next to 
impossible to curb an industrious, persevering man. He, de- 
spite the importunity of friends, will work on until the machin- 
ery is exhausted and will lay down his trusts while yet in the 
harness. 

"Some men flower early— some late;" our dead brother was a 
full blown man, and was only at his best, w T hile just in the early 
afternoon of life, he answered to the final summons when he 
was best qualified to grapple with life's sternest problems and 
be the most useful to his fellow men. 

For a number of years past, Brother Parkinson's face was 
sicklied over with the pale cast of thought. No red-faced man 



38 Public Addresses. &c. 3 of Gov. 0. W. Atkinson. 



or woman is bothered greatly with continuous thinking. 
Shakespeare said, "It's not the red-faced man and fat I fear, 
but the lean and hungry— they think too much." Any one who 
would look J. L. Parkinson, when alive, in the face, would 
promptly conclude that he was a man of affairs, a man of 
thought, a man able at all times to give reasons for the faith 
within. Such men wield an influence greater than they know, 
and rear fabrics about them which will stand for generations 
after they are gone. 

True greatness lies in the consciousness of an honest purpose 
in life. Every man stamps his own value upon himself, for we 
are great or little according to our will. Greatness is goodness. 
The great man is he who does something in his day to make 
the world better, broader, nobler, grander. The truly great 
man is the one who believes most in God and loves his fellow 
man. The greatest man therefore is God's man. Our deceased 
brother was a Christian, and the true Christian is the highest 
type of man on earth. No man was ever a great man that 
wanted to be one. Hence the truly great man is the unostenta- 
tious, self denying, conscientious. God-fearing Christian. 

John Lloyd Parkinson, son of John and Elizabeth Parkin- 
son, was born at Ryerson's Station, Greene county, Penn., 
September 3, 1834, and departed this life at Mounds ville, West 
Virginia, February 1, 1895. He moved to Marshall county in 
1842; graduated from TVaynesburg College, Pennsylvania, in 
1858; was admitted to the bar in 1862, and practiced the pro- 
fession of the law up to the time of his death. He married 
Miss Mary M. Elliott in October, 1864, and located in Mounds- 
ville in 1867. He served two terms as Prosecuting Attorney of 
Marshall county, and as I have already said, he declined all 
other political positions. He was for many years Vice-Presi- 
dent and a director of the Marshall County Bank, and ably 
filled the position of local attorney for the Baltimore & Ohio 
Railroad Company for a long period of time. 

Brother Parkinson was a consistent member of the Presby- 
terian Church at Mounds ville for a great many years; was also 
a member of Mound City Lodge No. 13 of the Independent Or- 
der of Odd Fellows, and had passed all of its chairs. He was 
also a member in good stauding of the National Union, a most 
excellent, cheap and reliable Insurance and Fraternal organiza- 
tion. Pardon me for saying, my friends, that every man pres- 



Eulogy to Gen'l P. B. Dobbins. 



39 



ent who has a family, owes it to himself and his wife and child- 
ren to immediately connect himself with this society, or one like 
unto it, if he has not already done so. 

In conclusion my brethren, and friends, let me add a word of 
exhortation for this greatest of all Beneficiary Institutions, 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. It is great in member- 
ship, great in the distribution of its benefits, and great in good 
works also. It has thrown rays of sunshine and comfort in 
many a dark, sad home. It has thrown its arms around many 
a weak brother and held him on his feet. It has kept thous- 
ands from ruin and disgrace by guiding them around the pit- 
falls of sin which yawn for every man's ruin. It has strewn 
flowers in the pathways of all its loyal devotees. It has stood 
about the couches of the sick and the dying, has buried the 
dead, and cared for the widows and the orphans of its members. 
It lifts above all men the banner of peace, and has been a bles- 
sing to the world. 



ADDRESS 

of Governor G. W. Atkinson, at the Grave of General P. B. 
Dobbins, a member of his staff, Wheeling, West Virginia. 



March 8, 1897. 



(From Wheeling Intelligencer, March 9, 1897.) 

After the reading of appropriate passages of Scripture by the 
Rev. J. L. Sooy, D. D., and solemn prayer, Governor Atkinson 
was introduced, and spoke as follows: 

Mr. Atkinson's Eulogy. 

Just how much life means, words refuse to tell, because they 
cannot. The very doorway of life is hung about with 'flowery 
emblems to indicate that it is for a purpose in God's unrevealed 
plans to one and all. Life may be grand. God intended it to 
be glorious, so He paved its course with diamonds, fringed its 



40 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



banks with flowers, and overarched it with stars, while around 
it He spread the physical universe — suns, moons, worlds, con- 
stellations, sublime in magnitude, and grand in order and obe- 
dience. In this strange, this wonderful thing called life, every 
man, every woman, has his or her place. Some lay their life 
work down early, others later; but sooner or later all must sur- 
render their trusts to God. This brother fell just after his sun 
had reached its noon. 

Man proposes and God disposes. We plan, but our plans are 
not always for the best, and a wise Providence frequently over- 
rules them. We often wonder why, but that is not for us to 
know. It is enough for us to know that there is a God supreme, 
and that all of us should bow submissively to His will. The 
way is often dark. It is dark to-day for some of us. The pall 
hangs heavily o'er this household, but God willed it so, and we 
bow reverently to His decree. When the golden bowl is broken 
and the silver cordis severed, we pause, we wonder and we weep. 
We drop our tears, we pour out our sympathies, but tears and 
sympathy only aggravate the wounds, unless out of the sur- 
rounding darkness we can by faith and trustfulness in God, be- 
lieve that His sunshine will some day drive away these clouds. 
In this solemn presence I declare my abiding belief in the father- 
hood of God and the brotherhood of man; and I declare what I 
know to be true, and that is that my brother and my friend who 
lies before me in the cold embrace of death, possessed, in all its 
fullness, this same saving and abiding faith. 

My friends, nothing abides save God and the soul. There is 
nothing enduring in this world except God and His law. This 
is the lesson taught by this house of death to-day. What is 
life? Tell us, friends, from the high abode of death, what is life? 
We ask this solemn question, and no answer comes back to our 
waiting hearts. But if life on earth contributes to the life of the 
soul, we have the confronting assurance that all will be well. If 
the soul fills well the place assigned to it on the earth, discharges 
every duty faithfully and well, obeys the commands of the Cre- 
ator, of one and all, and scatters benefactions, as opportuni- 
ties offer, for the betterment of the race, such an one, if he 
have the true spirit of worship, is a child of the King. To one 
like this, death, however sudden, however terrible in its sur- 
roundings, can bring no fear, no sorrowful forebodings; and 
when the friends and admirers of the stricken one gather to bid 



Eulogy to Gen'l P. B. Dobbins. 



41 



him a last farewell as his soul winds its way from earth, there 
is joy and there is consolation. A life without reproach is bet- 
ter a thousand times than a life whose record simply means 
millions of money, or high renown, or power, or authority 
among men. 

"Death does not end all.'' The first and foremost poet of the 
Bible, when his heart was bleeding, as ours are today, by inspi- 
ration wrote for all the ages, and for the consolation of one 
and all, that when a man dies he shall live again. This dead 
brother believed that statement, as all of us believe it. Here, 
then, we find a balm for these bleeding wounds, and that earth 
has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal. 

My friends, this is a sad day for this once happy home; but 
there was never a clould so black that has not a silver lining. 
My friend and brother, whose untimely death we mourn today, 
was not a professor of religion. He may not have estimated 
church life as highly as do many of his friends, but he was 
withal a man of faith which I believe illumined his soul when 
he reached the river that all of us must some day cross. Not 
given to loud professions or vain boastings as to a religious 
experience, yet deep down in his heart was a well of love and 
trust which was constant in its flow toward the Savior of man- 
kind. In all his life, he exemplified the big human end of relig- 
ion by doing right. In this respect his faith was fixed. His 
purposes were strong. His devotion to the right as unfaltering 
as the stars. There is nothing more to be admired in this life 
than a manly man. This dead friend of yours and mine was 
everjr inch a man. God never made a truer, nobler, manlier 
man. He was a friend to all, an enemy to none. To every one 
who needed aid, he w T as ever ready to stretch forth a helping 
hand. He looked up, not down, out, not in, and the world to- 
day is better because he lived in it. His unswerving purpose 
ever w r as to lift those with whom he associated to higher con- 
ceptions of life and duty. 

He was also an honest man. None who knew him as did 
most of us, will question the truthfulness of this statement. 
Burns told it all in this single stanza: 

"From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs, 
Which make her loved at home — revered abroad; 

Princes and lords are but the breath of kings, 
An honest man is the noblest work of God." 

He was a brave man also. He had the courage of his convic- 



42 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



tions. He was a dangerous antagonist, because he could never 
compromise with his conscience or waver as to a conviction of 
duty. He always went straightforward. There were no zig- 
zags, no ins and outs in his public or his private acts. He wore 
above him the white-flower of a blameless life. His personal 
character was as spotless as a maiden's, and as unsullied as a 
ray of light. He was never on both sides of a. question at the 
same time. As God lives to-day and in this solemn presence, I 
declare, more than any other man I ever knew, this dead friend 
of mine was true as steel, and would allow his strong right arm 
to go from him rather than double on any question, either in 
politics, business or religion. A man like that will live long 
years after his body has mouldered into dust. 

Weaknesses, like all other men, he had. Like all others, he 
had his likes and dislikes. Like all other positive, honest men, 
he had opponents and those who sought to class themselves as 
enemies. But^I believe I state the truth when I say he was 
the enemy of none. Like all others, he made mistakes. Like 
all others he had his troubles and mishaps. But the good, the 
pure, the true, the steadfast, the straightforwardness in this 
dead man's past life, overshadowed his weaknesses as the high 
hills about Wheeling tower above the bosom of the Ohio as it 
sweeps past his home on its meandering way to the sea. Liv- 
ing, he asked no compromise with those who opposed him: 
dead, there will be no utterances of him except those that are 
good. Such men always leave their impress upon the times in 
which they live. Such men will be missed, because their places 
are difficult to fill. When a king is dethroned, the people re- 
joice, but when a good man dies they mourn his loss. 

This afflicted family have around them to-day hosts of lov- 
ing friends. The warm hands of all our people are stretched 
forth to comfort them in their sorrow and bereavement. But 
at best we can do but little in this dark hour of their distress. 
Words are worthless on an occasion like this. When husband 
and father is taken, God alone can give comfort and relief. Let 
us lean upon the promises which the pastor has read from the 
Master's Word, for they strew the dark pathway to the grave 
with the promise that death does not end all, and that the up- 
right and the just shall dwell forever in the sweet summer land 
of rest. 

One thought more, and it is this: 



General Grant. 



43 



'•If you and I to-day should stop and lay 

Our life-work down, and let our hands fall where they will, 

Fall down to lie quite still; 

And if some other hand should come and stoop and find 

The threads Ave carried so it could wind, 

Beginning where we stopped; if it should come to keep 

Our life-work going, seek 

To carry on the good design 

Distinctively made yours and mine, 

What would it find? 

"If love should come 

Stooping above when we are done. 

To find bright threads 

That we have held, that it may spin them longer, find but shreds 

That break when touched, how cold, 

Sad, shivering, portfonless the hands will hold 

The broken strands, and know 

Fresh cause for woe." 

Peyton Byrne Dobbins was born in Braxton County, Virginia 
(now West Virginia), March 3, 1842; was killed in a railroad 
collision at Loveland, Ohio, March 5, 1897. 

He filled many public positions, and filled them well. He pos- 
sessed the confidence of all, and had the enmity of none. He 
was my friend and the friend of all the people. He was a good 
man and true. May his ashes rest in peace. 



GENERAL GRANT DAY. 

Governor Atkinson's Remarks before the Union League, New 

York City. 

April 27, 1897. 

My Friends: — This is one of the memorable occasions in the 
history of our Republic. In my humble judgment, Mr. Presi- 
dent, General Grant was the greatest military chieftain of the 
nineteenth century, if not, in fact, of all the centuries. He was, 
like Napoleon, peerless alike in Camp and Cabinet. Like all 
really great Generals, he was both a General and a diplomat. 
Like Julius Caesar and Napoleon, he was both general and 
statesman. His genius was double-barreled — military and civ- 
ic. He was a commander of men on the field of battle, and in 
legislative halls also. He shot like a true marksman, always 



44 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



with a rest in the field, in the cabinet and on the forum. He 
shot right and left, and always straight-forward. He never 
shot "off-hand." He was ever deliberate both on the field and 
in the cabinet. Of all Americans whose histories have been 
written, he was the nearest self-poised. Like all other men 
he had his faults. Like all other men, he had his weak- 
nesses. Like all other men, he made mistakes; but when 
he erred, he erred on the right side. When he leaned over 
in any particular direction, he always bent the right way. He 
never was known to bend towards the enemy. God will alwa} 7 s 
bless him for that. He never failed to bend toward his friends, 
when he allowed himself to be bent at all. For this weakness, 
if you consider it a weakness, the world, a thousand years 
hence, will rise up and call him blessed. (Loud applause.) 

History has written General Grant in cold type, one of the 
marvelous men of all the ages; and history rarely, if ever, errs. 
(Cheers.) He was the "silent man" of modern times, and, in- 
deed, of all times; and his silence was the true measure of his 
greatness. Grant was truly "the silent man of destiny." "Si- 
lence murmurs while the deeps are dumb." (Loud cheers.) A 
little, brawling, mountain rivulet makes more noise than the 
deep, broad, grand, majestic Mississippi. Grant was a massive 
Mississippi, and his traducers aud maligners were brawling 
mountain rivulets. General Ulysses S. Grant will live forever in 
the hearts of his countrymen, while those who seek to depreciate 
him will be ignored and despised of all men. Grant made him- 
self. Millions cannot unmake him. (Applause.) The few char- 
latans may croak and whine and groan and lie about Grant, 
but the massive millions of our people will rank him next to 
Lincoln, the greatest, biggest, broadest, brainiest, bravest man 
our country has ever produced. (Applause.) 

Mr. President, I am from the South. I am a Virginian. I 
stand by my people, because they have always stood by me. 
Hitherto we of the South have not fully understood ourselves. 
Of late we are beginning to find out "where we are at." We 
have been doing wrong because of our prejudices. Somehow, 
we couldn't help it. We acknowledge our mistakes. We have 
recently found out "who hit us." We have been hitting our- 
selves. We ask forgiveness for our short-comings. Will you of 
the North and East be reasonable, consistent, merciful? We of 
the South have at last found out what we don't want. We 



General Grant. 



45 



don't want free trade. We know we have had enough of that. 
President McKinley succeeded in bringing us to our senses. He 
told us, we, more than any other section of the Republic, needed 
protection. It took us a long time to get over to his way of 
thinking; but we got there at last, and we are going to stay 
there. We are now willing to concede that we cannot reach the 
forefront as a manufacturing section, without "protection," 
and this is why we voted for McKinley in West Virginia. The 
Army of the Potomac, or any other "army," if it were in ex- 
istence to-day, could not snatch us away from this way of 
thinking. (Cheers.) 

My fellow citizens, we are too poor down South to make 
much of a stir, but we are not dead. (Laughter.) Our preju- 
dices are going— gone. The "scales" have fallen from our eyes. 
Give us a little more time and our visions — our out-looks — will 
be entirely cleared. We are making headway. We are at last 
on the right road. (Applause.) Bear with us a little while 
longer, and very soon we will be in the front of the procession. 
We are not fools. (Laughter.) You of the North will make a 
mistake if you class us as such. I speak for West Virginians, 
and I tell you in all sincerity, no better, braver, nobler people 
breathe the air of heaven than the sturdy mountaineers of our 
progressive "Mountain State." We are Virginians, but we are 
Americans also. We have learned at last that the whole is 
greater than any of its parts. You may depend upon West Vir- 
ginians standing by the United States first, and by our own 
State next. We are loyal to "the flag," and at the call of the 
President, we will respond with colors flying. With us "E plur- 
ibus unum" means more than "montani semper liberi." (Loud 
applause.) 

Mr. President, I stand here to-day, in this splendid presence, 
from my native State of West Virginia, and I believe that I 
stand for an overwhelming majority of my people. I believe in 
that greatest of all American principles — protection to Ameri- 
can industries, American manufactures and American labor. 
(Applause.) For this we may be termed selfish; but we are not. 
We simply believe in the McKinley doctrine of looking out for 
No. 1. A man who will not look out for himself is unworthy 
the name of a man. A man who will not provide for his own 
family, does not deserve to be recognized as a man. (Applause.) 
Down in West Virginia, from which section I have the honor to 



46 



Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



hail, we believe it to be our first duty to care for our own house- 
holds. We believe in the Bible doctrine that he who refuses to 
provide for his own household has denied the faith, and is worse 
than an infidel. (Laughter.) We are not infidels down there. 
We are Christians, and they are the best people on the earth, 
and everybody knows it. We have started out to follow Presi- 
dent McKinley, and we are going' to keep on following him, be- 
cause we believe him to be a true American, and we firmly and 
honestly believe in the doctrine which he teaches. We have 
stood by the McKinley Bill and now we are standing by "Bill" 
McKinley.'' (Laughter.) Hail and high water and brimstone 
and the CobdenClub and Cleveland and '•Billy" Wilson all com- 
bined, can't switch us off from the firm position we have taken. 
Thank the Lord, we are in dead earnest at last. Our eyes k 'are 
sot" and we are like the old Presbyterian Elder, ''When our 
eyes are sot, a meeten house can't be any sotter." (Loud 
laughter.) 

Mr. Toastm aster, I believe I am speaking for the entire South, 
but I dare not assume to gobevond the limits of nivown State. 
I tell you and the Union League Club of New York, that West 
Virginians are sick and tired of "solid-south" isms. We have 
recently cut the shore lines, and have as a State, launched out 
on the great sea of Republican progress. (Applause.) We are for 
protection for our own households and for American industries 
and American labor. We believe with President McKinley. that 
it is far better for us to open our mills to the free and unlimited 
employment of American labor, than to open our mints to the 
free and unlimited manufacture of fifty cent silver dollars. 
(Applause.) You might as well try to dam the Hudson river 
with corn-cobs as to try to switch West Virginia back to the 
"torn -foolery" of free trade and fifty cent dollars; and the en- 
tire "New South" will sooner or later line up in the same pro- 
cession. (Cheers.) We have allowed ourselves to be ruled by 
prejudice ever since the close of the war: but old things are pass- 
ing away in our south-land, and all things are becoming new. 
If you will go with me into West Virginia, our people can not 
tell you where the north ends or the south begins. (Prolonged 
cheering.) If we only had your stern common sense, your 
money and your enterpise down yonder in our country, it would 
not belong before half the people of Xew York would move over 
into West Virginia ; and better than all, you would remain there 



Address on St. John's Day. 



47 



the balance of your lives. We have the richest State in natural 
resources on the face of the earth. If you do not believe my 
statements, go down there and see for yourselves. (Cheers.) 

Mr. President, I beg of you to believe me when I say, we have 
resolved to stand by McKinley and "McKinleyism" in the future. 
We are going to stand by "protection." We are going to stand 
by the Union. We are going to keep on standing by the Repub- 
lican party. We are going to keep on standing by a genuine 
American policy, which means that we propose to stand by our- 
selves. We will take no step backward. Have no fears, Mr. 
President, as to this. West Virginia, politically, has hung her 
gate "on the other post," and she has hung it there to stay. 
We are for the United States first and for other countries after- 
wards. We are for McKinley and so-called "McKinleyism," and 
we mean to keep on voting that way, sink or swim, live or die, 
survive or perish. (Great applause.) 



ADDRESS 

of Gov. Atkinson on St. John's Day, at Clarksburg, W. Va. 



June 24, 1897. 



My Friends and Fellow Citizens:— 

The two great John's of the New Testament were two patron 
saints of Freemasonry. These John's were among the wonder- 
ful men of history. With the exception of the Apostle to the 
Gentiles, they were perhaps the greatest men of their times, and 
of all times. The Baptist, whose memory we celebrate to-day, 
was the first great prophet of the New Dispensation; and the 
Master himself said that he knew none greater— not even ex- 
cepting Paul. The other John— the Evangelist— was the last 
of all the prophets. He telescoped with marvelous vision, the 
glories of the world to come. He saw through coming centuries 
as only one divinely inspired, and the pictures that he painted 
are an inspiration to all who believe in the existence of a God, 



48 Public Addresses, &a, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



and believe there remains a reward for those who emulate the 
virtues of these great prophets, and believe that it is the duty 
of one and all to do their part in making the world better and 
broader and nobler and grander. 

All over the civilized world to-day Freemasons are meeting 
and are talking about the greatness and the goodness of St. 
John, the Baptist, and also about the principles and the teach- 
ings of our Masonic institution. We do not magnify this great 
Order. It magnifies itself. Cynics often essay to attack it. 
We don't defend it. It defends itself. Little mountain rivulets 
murmur, but Masonry, like the great, broad, grand Mississippi 
rolls majestically on in its meandering way to the sea. Pessi- 
mists and cynics cannot decry her, nor can they impede her in 
her efforts to harmonize men of all nations and of all climes. 

Master Masons have ever been the minute men of freedom and 
the reliable men of statesmanship. 

Freemasonry is a school— not a school-master; a porch— not 
a zeno; a place for study — not a, teacher. Her mission is to 
preserve — not to propagate the divine truth committed to her 
keeping. But if one is desirous of learning, he may choose his 
master, be that master Paul or Appollos or Cephas or Jesus or 
Moses or Leo XIII or Luther or Zoroaster or Mohammed; and 
every Mason must teach the Truth as it is given unto him, and 
not another to see the truth. 

The one great aim of Freemasonry has ever been to proclaim 
the existence of an Allwise, Supreme Deity. 

The banks of the streams of time are strewn with the wrecks 
of censorships and inquisitions and racks and thumb-screws 
and fagots; with the corpses of monarchs and dead empires as 
pitiful memorials of those who have sought to shackle human 
thought and speech by opposing the mighty jugernaut of 
truth and progress. But while creeds and religions and em- 
pires have risen, flourished and decayed, Freemasonry still sur- 
vives and will live on forever. 

This fraternity, my brethren, originated, as did classic his- 
tory, out of a mythology all its own; and upon its unseen 
foundations it has risen slowly, like a coral island, or like civil 
and religious liberty, revealing to none its great beginnings, 
and it stands forth to-day the oldest continuing human system 
known to the science of sociology. 

But, brethren, the heart of man is older than his head. Hu- 



Address ox St. John's Day. 



49 



inanity everywhere longs for the sympathy which is taught by 
this, the oldest and greatest of all secret societies that the world 
has ever seen. 

Care, struggle, anxiety are all about us. Human sorrow is 
an universal experience. All around are bleeding hearts, and 
Freemasonry seeks to heal them. 

Brethren, we need more of the courage that dares and the 
courage that does; that recognizes right and pursues it; that 
owns a duty and discharges it; that sees a wrong and rights it. 

We win by tenderness. We conquer by forgiveness. 

Come what may, my brethren, let us promulgate the true 
symbolisms of our Institution, and especially charit} T which 
vaunteth not itself, and is not puffed up, and upbraideth not. 

Let us not leave flowers on our brothers graves, but sprinkle 
now a few upon their darkened, saddened pathways that can 
be traced along the years by the bloody tracks of disappoint- 
ments, mishaps and mistakes. We are commanded to gladden 
the sore heart here and now by the word of cheer, the hand of 
help. As men and Masons I believe we are ready and willing to 
do our part in the great conflict for the triumph of the right. 

The brethren will pardon me for saying that I think I know a 
healthy man when I see him. If I am not mistaken, Free- 
masonry in West Virginia is as healthy a specimen of virile 
manhood as treads the earth and looks upon the stars. We 
are going right onward. Nothing can impede us. We are on 
the right road. We know it. We are doing our work faithfully 
and well, and we know that also. We have 107 Lodges, and 
they are increasing every year. Hail and high water cannot 
stop Freemasonry from spreading. With hand to back, and 
mouth to ear, we will go steadily onward from conquering to 
conquest. (Loud applause.) 



50 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



REMARKS 

of Governor G. W. Atkinson, introducing Col. Henry Watterson, 
at the Wheeling Opera House, in his great lec- 
ture on Abraham Lincoln. 



Ladies and Gentlemen:— 

The discussion of the life and character of a great man by a 
great man, is always profitable. The United States has been 
and is prolific of distinguished men. She is the mother of the 
minute men of freedom, and the reliable men of statesmanship. 
The names of many of them are household words, and they will 
remain such for centuries— perhaps forever. But it makes no 
difference how tall the shaft upon which the names of these 
statesmen and patriots may be carved by an admiring, liberty- 
loving people, the names of two will ever stand pre-eminently 
above all the rest— Washington and Lincoln. 

Distinct as they were individually and widely differing in al- 
most all their characteristics, they will ever represent the high- 
est types of American manhood. Widely differing in nearly 
every other respect, yet they were the same in that broad hu- 
manity, that sterling patriotism, that serene uprightness of 
character which underlie the true elements of genuine American 
manhood. 

In W ashington we have the man of education, the scion of an 
aristocratic and noted household, reared in an atmosphere of 
monarchical ideas and predilections; all of which, however, he 
was able to cast aside, and thus sacrifice opportunities for pre- 
ferment, that he might engage, like the struggling Cubans, in 
an apparent hopeless effort for the freedom of his country- 
men. He risked his all to see the Nation established. And like 
Lord Nelson at Trafalgar, he won ; but he won more than a 
peerage, or a grave in Westminster Abbey— he won forever the 
title, "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his 
countrymen." 

Lincoln was more truly the product of the country which 
Washington gave to freedom, and was therefore more truly the 



Addkess at Kentucky Medical College. 51 



typical American. Springing* from the ranks of the common 
people — from the lower walks of life; born in poverty, in obscur- 
ity, inured to the hardest of hardships, almost totally unedu- 
cated; yet like the Nation he was destined to preserve, he rose 
superior to his surroundings, and eventually asserted the 
greatness that was in him. 

As long as the nation endures, as long as the fire of patriot- 
ism burns in the American breast, the names of these two 
heroes will be indissolubly linked — the one as the maker of the 
greatest Nation beneath the stars, the other as its preserver; 
the one, the father of his country ; the other, her foremost son. 
Aye, more, my friends. I shall always believe that Abraham 
Lincoln was the biggest, broadest, brainiest man of our times, 
and of all times. His name will be forever remembered for 
what he said and how he said it, as well as for what he did and 
how he did it. 

His great character will be presented to us to-night by one, 
also a native of Kentucky — one in all respects peculiarly fitted 
for the task, Col. Henry Watterson, scholar, editor, orator. It 
affords me pleasure, my fellow citizens, to introduce as the 
speaker of the evening, not Col. Henry Watterson of Kentucky, 
but citizen Henry Watterson, of the United States of America. 
(Applause.) 



ADDRESS 

of Governor G. W. Atkinson, D. C. L., of West Virginia, in the 
McCullough Opera House, at Louisville, Ky., before the 
Graduating Class of the Kentucky Medical College. 



June 30, 1897. 



(From "Courier-Journal.") 



Young Gentlemen of the Class of 1897, Ladies and Gen- 
tlemen:— 

I am glad I have the opportunity to talk to you upon this, 
the occasion of your graduation from this Medical College, 



52 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



which is beyond question the greatest in the South. I assure 
you, my young friends, that it is always a pleasure to me to be 
permitted to address young men. Some opinionated individual 
once said that the difference between a Doctor of Divinity and 
a Doctor of Medicine is this: "A D. D. practices faith and pray- 
er, while an M. D. practices faith and pills." I am inclined to 
the belief that our alleged cynical friend was not far wrong. 
All good men should deal in faith. They should have faith in 
themselves and faith in the right. Without faith in ourselves 
and the ultimate triumph of right principles, the future would 
be dark and gloomy indeed. All of us should have an abiding 
faith in Almighty God; and the successful physician must have 
faith in himself and the remedies he prescribes in the treatment 
of his cases. 

My advice to you, young gentlemen, to-day, as you leave this 
school, is to take with composure whatever may come to you. 
All ambitious men aim high, but seldom reach their highest ex- 
pectations. Some men, however, go about their work blindly 
and with no definite purpose in life. It seems to me to be a 
crime for people to always mean well, and yet never reach their 
well meaning. 

The man who accomplishes the most, is the one who sees 
things as they are, and then takes a vigorous hand to make the 
most of the circumstances which come within his reach. The 
man who achieves the greatest good, is the one who entertains 
the highest ideas, and then endeavors to put these ideas into 
practical effect. 

Success, as I understand it, lies in being in perfect harmony 
with one's undertakings. Things may, for a time, appear out 
of joint; and one may not find his work in harmony with his 
expectations, but if he is true to his calling, it will finally result 
for the best. Let me tell you, young gentlemen, the world is 
proud of those who are in love with their work, no matter what 
it may be. 

Some one has said, and I think aptly, that the old maxim of 
"a penny saved is better than a penny earned, " is not alto- 
gether correct. A penny which has been properly earned, and 
judiciously expended, in my judgment, is a far better maxim 
than the one above mentioned, which is so generally accepted 
as correct political economy. Money saved frequently results 
in loss to its owner. The judicious expenditure of money is the 



Address at Kentucky Medical College. 53 



basis of individual and national prosperity. The successful 
man does both— he saves and invests. One always supplements 
the other. The men who win success in life are not those who 
wait until all methods are proven successes, but rather those 
who ask only an even chance, and join the procession while it 
is passing-. If I were as young as you, my young friends, I 
would hasten to take out an endowment policy of confidence in 
myself, and I would resolve to take a hand in whatever might 
come before me. Conservatism may do for old men, but young 
men must have grit and gumption, and nerve enough to assert 
themselves, and hold the positions they have rightfully taken. 
I urge you, therefore, to allow no one, old or young, to rob you 
of that which justly belongs to you. Allow no one to crowd 
you out of line. Stand firmly for that which is justly and hon- 
estly your own. Stand for your rights, as Patrick Henry ex- 
pressed it, "Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish." 

My friends, these diploma's mean much to you. They show 
that you have equipped yourselves for your life-work. They 
testify that you are not mountebanks or charlatans. The 
time was when men could, in a way practice the healing art 
without knowledge or learning or character. The time was 
when men could win a fair degree of success, even in the learned 
professions, with limited educations: but that time has passed. 
The day of raw-leather men has gone by for ever: and we are 
glad that it is so. Education is now demanded, not only in the 
learned professions, but in every branch of business and trade 
as well. I once heard Henry Ward Beecher say that even "Mor- 
tar is better when mixed with brains," and he was right. 

My fellow citizens, the history of the world, from Adam down 
to McKinley, teaches the fact that true merit will always be re- 
warded. It is sometimes tardy in its coming, but it will come 
at last to all who are truly meritorious and deserving. The 
masses of the people are always fair and honest, and they will, 
sooner or later, award to every one of you your just deserts. 
Then my young friends, let me advise you not no undertake to 
try to deceive the people, because they will surely find you out. 
They will "get onto you," as the boys say on the streets. Mr. 
Lincoln aptly said, "You can deceive all the people part of the 
time; you can deceive part of the people all the time; but you 
can't deceive all the people all the time." 

When you begin to wrestle seriously with the world, you will 



54 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



find that great men do not grow upon parlor carpets any more 
than trees grow in hot-beds. Great men are made by rubbing 
up against the moving, throbbing mass of man-kind, just as 
the trees are made to grow and flourish and take deeper and 
firmer roots, because of the winds and the storms that beat 
against them yonder on the mountain crests. Just so it is 
with the men of this world, my friends. 

You will find also that in all of life's struggles courage will be 
essential to success in your callings, as well as in mine. Not 
John L. Sullivan courage. I don't mean that. That is brute 
courage, and you will find that there is not much in that, my 
friends. You should, however, have enough of that sort of 
courage to protect your manhood, your honor, your homes 
and your fire-sides, and no more. The braggart and the bully, 
like the raw-leather man are back numbers. The courage that 
you will need most is moral courage — the courage to be just, 
the courage to do right, the courage to stand for principle, the 
courage to be honest every hour in the day, and every day in 
the week. 

An old sailor once said, "Mess-mates, 1 want to tell you that 
God Almighty has so arranged things in this world that it 
about pays to do right." 

The little boy who saw the water breaking through the dykes 
yonder in the low-lands of Holland, and promptly stopped the 
leak with clay, to my mind, revealed a finer fiber and a braver 
record than Arnold Winklereid, who, when at the head of a 
Swiss army, shouted to the enemy, "Make way for liberty," and 
rushing upon the bayonets of the enemy, made way for liberty 
and died. 

The little Scotch peasant girl— Margaret Graham— who by 
Claverhouse's order was tied to a stake on the beach, when the 
tide was out, because she would not renounce her belief in the 
Christian religion, and was overwhelmed by the tide, by that 
one act proved her courage to be greater than Chambronne's 
when he shouted to the British, "The guard will die, but it will 
never surrender." 

The watchman at Pompeii, buried at his post by the molten 
lava from Vesuvius, tells the Roman story in more eloquent 
language than the ruins of the Collosseum. And brave Hern- 
don, standing on the bow of his ship, doing all he could to save 
his crew, and choosing death to dishonor, is a grander picture 



Address at Kentucky Medical College. 



55 



of true, heroic temper than Julius Caesar leading his legions to 
victory, or the conquering Corsican at the Bridge of Lodi. 
This, my brothers, is the sort of courage you will need. 

Two more thoughts, and I am done. The first of these 
thoughts is, that Divine providence has so arranged things in 
this life tharb a narrow-minded, pompous, pop-eyed, pigeon-liv- 
ered bigot cannot amount to much in this world. What man- 
kind wants above everything else is heart, soul, sympathy. 
Some men have no hearts — they only have gizzards. I know 
some men myself, whose souls are so small that a million of 
of them can revolve on the point of a cambric needle without 
touching elbows. If } T ou hope to win in this world, my young 
friends, you must have sympathy— a fellow feeling for somebody 
besides yourselves. 

But you say there is nothing but sentiment in sympathy. 
You are mistaken. It is the great power, unseen though it may 
be, that is }^et to reform this world. It is the lever by which 
all classes may be raised to a higher plane of usefulness. The 
reason that Shakespeare's poems are read second only to the 
Bible itself, is because of the vein of sympathy which runs 
through almost every line of every poem. He seemingly 
stretches out his great arms and throws them around the peo- 
ple and draws them to his bosom, which is ever throbbing with 
sympathy and love. Your popularity and your success will de- 
pend largely upon the amount of sympathy you show towards 
your fellow men. 

I know you will pardon this illustration. I have stood on 
the summit of the lofty hill in the rear of my home at Wheeling, 
and have heard peal after peal of the mighty thunder, which 
seemed to shake the mountains to their bases. This to me was 
grand— awfully grand. Standing there, I have seen flash after 
flash of lightning as they shot athwart both valley and sky. 
This, too, was grand. Standing there, I have heard the escap- 
ing of steam from the massive steamboats, as they plowed the 
bosom of the majestic Ohio, as it swept past my home on its 
meandering way to the sea. This, also, was grand. Standing 
there, I have heard the shrill whistle of the locomotive, as it 
dashed along valley and hill-side, and through the very moun- 
tains themselves, carrying passengers forty miles an hour from 
sea to sea. This, likewise was grand. All these things were 
grand— awfully grand; but they are nothing, absolutely noth- 



56 Public Addresses, &c 3 of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



ing, in comparison with the wailings of the human heart, which 
arouse in one's bosom a desire to relieve another's sorrows and 
bind up another's wounds. 

The lower animals have feeling, but they have no fellow feel- 
ing. I have myself seen the ox eating hay in his stall, when his 
yoke-mate lay dying by his side. 

It is said that the wounded deer sheds tears. This may be 
true ; but it is left for man alone, by sympathy, to divide an- 
other's sorrows and double another's joys. 

You may place two pianos in a room — one being an exact 
multiple of the other— and leave one of them uncovered and 
open up the other. Let some one place his ear upon the un- 
covered instrument, and let another touch a key of the other 
instrument, and the man with his ear upon the casing of the 
uncovered piano will hearthe^ound of the self-same note. This 
is the philosophy of harmonics. It is strange — passing strange, 
but it is stranger still how it is and why it is, that the strings 
of one man's heart will vibrate to those of another, and how 
woe wakes woe and grief begets pain. 

This, my friends, is sympathy in the fullness of its sweep, and 
this is the great unseen power which will yet regenerate the 
world. My brother, my friend, if you have not begun to culti- 
vate this element in your nature, I beg of you to begin it now. 

The other thought which I desire to leave with you is the 
statement that work wins. Daniel Webster once said, "In all 
the learned professions, there is always room on top." He 
meant to convey the impression that all the lower grade posi- 
tions and places are crowded, and he was forever right. Great 
as he was, he never uttered a greater truism than that. 

I once saw a placard on the wall of a law-office which read 
like this, as well as I can recall it, ''Lost, somewhere between 
the hours of 9 a. m. and 6 p. m. to-day, one golden hour of 
time. No reward is offered for its recovery, because it is gone 
forever." I am sure, my young friends, you will catch the force 
of the lesson of that advertisement. 

With all the emphasis that I can command, I want to im- 
press upon your minds to-night the force and truthfulness of 
the statement that work, and nothing but persistent work, will 
procure success for you in the careers upon which you are now 
entering. 

Men may be born rich, but they can not be born great. Xo 



Address at Kentucky Medical College. 



57 



physician, no lawyer, no clergyman, no statesman, no farmer, 
no mechanic, ever reached success by loafing or lounging pre- 
cious time away. That is not the way the gladiator prepared 
himself for the amphitheatre at Rome, when nearly all the in- 
habitants of that great city were present to witness his daring 
feats of courage, nerve and muscle. That is not the way that 
John Milton wrote the "Paradise Lost/' the grandest epic 
poem of the centuries. That is not the way that Henry 
Thomas Buckle laid the foundation of and gathered the 
material for the most remarkable history ever written by 
mortal hands. That is not the way that Demosthenes and 
Pericles prepared themselves for the Athenean rostrum, and 
who, when they spoke, they swayed the people at their wills. 
That is not the way that Hannibal and Scipio and Alexander 
the Great and Julius Caesar and Frederick the Second and Na- 
poleon the First prepared themselves for the command of great 
armies, the very mention of whose names, in battle, created ex- 
citement, fear and consternation in the ranks of their enemies. 
That is not the way that Copernicus and Kepler and Rosse and 
Newton surveyed the heavens, and with their massive telescopes 
brought the remotest stars almost within the shadows of their 
homes. That is not the way that Phidias and Praxitiles and 
Michael Angelo and our own great Hiram Powers, with chisel 
and brush, worked their ways through life, and left behind them 
monuments more enduring than the marble they sculptured and 
the pictures they painted, and names as imperishable as brass. 

No. my friends, all of these distinguished men, whose names I 
have mentioned, and all other great men of all ages and na- 
tionalities, worked their ways to fame, to fortune and success. 
They dug out the nuggets of wisdom which adorned their lives 
and characters from the great mountains of knowledge, which 
a wise and beneficent Creator has placed within the reach of all. 

Young gentlemen, hear me, if you expect to attain success in 
life, let me tell you, it can onh 7 be done by working early and 
late. "There is no royal road to learning.'' That proverb is 
as true as the Gospel of Grace. 

At the risk of the charge of being prolix, I am going to offer 
one thought more, and it is this: The wise builder builds for 
the future. There is nothing enduring in this world, but God 
and His laws. The stars that shone upon your cradles will 
shine upon your graves. The hills that cast their shadows up- 



58 



Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



on your play -grounds, will also cast them upon your biers, as 
loved ones take you to your tombs. Darkness is closing over 
the land of Solon and Lycurgus. The hills that echoed the elo- 
quence of Pericles are almost unknown to-day. The groves in 
which Socrates and Plato prepared their philosophy have all 
been razed to the earth. The grand cities, temples and obelisks 
of antiquity, which were intended to immortalize their builders, 
have nearly crumbled into dust; but the names and the deeds 
of Paul and Baxter and Bunyan, and men of that class, will 
live on and on for ever. 

I repeat, my young friends, the wise men of to-day will build 
for eternity. Decay is written upon everything about us. Mau- 
soleums, like everything earthy, must give way under the tooth 
of time. Even the globe itself must, sooner or later, melt with 
fervent heat. The sun unheeded will drag along the jarring 
heavens and refuse to shine. The lights of the stars will pale 
away. The moon will roll up the rending sky, and hang her 
latent livery on the wings of the dying night; but if we as in- 
dividual men and women, have builded well, our work will re- 
main indestructable, immutable, immortal, panoplied in per- 
petual glory, imaged by centuries, unmarred by change, and as 
eternal as God. 

We look into the future and hail the coming of the morn, 
radiant and effulgent, when the waves of the sea will become 
the crystal cords of a grand organ, on which the fingers of ever- 
lasting joy will -peal the grand march of a world redeemed to 
God. 



W. Va. State Colored Normal School. 



50 



WEST VIRGINIA STATE COLORED NOR- 
MAL SCHOOL. 

Speech of Governor G. W. Atkinson, D.C.L., at the laying of the 
Corner-Stone of the New Hall of the West Virginia 
State Colored Institute, at Farm, 
West Virginia. 



July 4, 1897. 



Members of the Board of Regents, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
The custom of laying corner-stones with solemn and impos- 
ing ceremonies is very ancient. Its origin antedates written 
history. If it had not its origin among the Hebrew people— 
which is extremely doubtful — they early adopted the custom, of 
which there is abundant evidence. 

The relation of the corner-stone to the building was not only 
early recognized, but its importance so well understood that 
the very term "corner-stone' ' was used as a symbol and em- 
ployed by poets, prophets and teachers, and by writers as a 
metaphor, a simile, or to emphasize an argument or enforce a 
moral. Of this the sacred writings afford many examples: 

"The Lord has chastened me sore; but he hath not given me 
over unto death/'' 

"The stone rejected b} r the builders is become the head corner." 

"Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation stone, a tried stone, a 
precious corner-stone, a sure foundation." 

"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? 
"Declare if thou knowest unclerstandingiy. Who hath laid the 
"measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the 
"line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fas- 
tened? or who laid the corner stone thereof: when the morning 
"stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" 

Enough is here quoted to illustrate that the corner-stone was 
recognized as an important stone in public and sacred build- 
ings among the Israelites at a very early date. But it was not 
peculiar to them. History teaches us every civilized nation 



GO Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



recognized the value of the corner-stone in public and sacred 
buildings. 

It is reported, Mr. Petrie, in 188G found deposited in a cor- 
ner-stone of a temple at Naukratis emblems placed there by 
Ptolemy Philadelphus, 275 B. C; also in the corner-stone of a 
temple built by Amasis II, about 550 B. C. These discoveries 
would lead us back about 2500 years. 

Among the Romans the corner-stone of public buildings was 
laid with sojemn and religious ceremonies. In Book IV, Section 
53, Tacitus tells us"thecare in rebuilding the Capitol was corn- 
emitted to Lucius Vestinus on the eleventh day before the 
"calends of July * * *. The grounds assigned for the founda- 
tion were encompassed with ribbons and chaplets of flowers 
"* * * the vestal virgins followed in procession, followed by 
"boys and girls. * * * The3^ sprinkled the place with water, 
"drawn from three clear fountains and three rivers; Helvidius, 
"Priscus, the praetor * * * sacrificed; they invoked Jupiter, 
"Juno and Minerva, praying of them and all the tutelary deities 
"of Rome that they would favor the undertaking, and with 
"their divine assistance carry to perfection a work begun and 
"consecrated by the piety of man. 

"After this solemn prayer, Helvidius laid his hands upon the 
"fillets that adorned the corner-stone, and also the cords by 
"which it was to be drawn to its place. At that moment the 
"magistrates, priests, senators, Roman knights and a number 
"of citizens, all acting with one effort, and amid general dem- 
onstrations of joy, laid hold of the ropes and dragged the 
"ponderous load to its destined spot. They then threw in in- 
"gots of gold and silver and other metals, which had never 
"been melted in a furnace, but still retained untouched by hu- 
"man art their first formations in the bowels of the earth." 

So history relates through all the periods to the present time 
among civilized peoples the ceremony of laying corner-stones 
has been regarded as a solemn and important event. It was 
considered and is today the most significant stone of the build- 
ing—not because it unites the two outer walls of the edifice, but 
in it are deposited records of value, coins and other evidences 
suggesting something of the history of the period, of the people, 
of the objects of the building to be erected and of its uses. 

But, my friends, all these ceremonies would be vain and use- 
less if they carried with them no other or deeper significance 



W. Va. State Colored Normal School. 



61 



than the mere perfunctory rites you have here witnessed. They 
go very much further. Indeed, these symbols are significant of 
larger and grander purposes than appear upon the surface. 

What are the objects of sacred and public buildings? They 
are many and arise with the needs of a people. They are the 
temples in which we worship; they are the halls devoted to pub- 
lic uses; the capitols wherein grave senators and representa- 
tives meet to enact laws for a people, laws that are to prosper 
them or oppress them; they are the halls of justice, from behind 
whose bulwarks, with a pure judiciary standing between the 
two extremes of government— the executive and legislative- 
protect public and private interests; they are the buildings 
erected for educational purposes; for social and intellectual cul- 
ture; asylums, homes for the orphan and the destitute. 

Behind all these lie the deeper aim and the grander purpose. 
This material structure symbolizes the inner spiritual house to 
be erected in which for stone and brick, cement and precious 
stones, are to be substituted the higher virtues of the heart, the 
purer emotions of the soul, the warm affections gushing from 
hidden fountains of the spirit— a new building, wherein shall be 
enshrined the diviner needs of man. Having laid such a corner- 
stone in his heart, the man is taught the importance of erecting 
his spiritual temple on the cubical stone of truth, tested by the 
square, the level and the plumb, all teaching "the necessity of 
integrity and fidelity of conduct, of truthfulness and upright- 
ness of character, and of purity of life." 

No man can live for himself alone. Every one should recog- 
nize the obligation, not valued in grains of gold, which he owes 
to his country, his neighbors, his family and himself. The hum- 
blest being exerts an influence for good or evil however limited 
be his sphere. The most gifted and influential have only a 
wider field by reason of their position in social life. 

These influences extend, like rays of light to all within the 
limit of the circle. By gradations the forces of man's influence 
extend upward and downward — thus connecting by a chain, 
whose links are human souls, the humblest being with the most 
exalted. It is the law of action and re-action linked insepar- 
ably together, producing a stress, a displacement of one set of 
ideas for another whether consonant with right or justice. 
When these mental forces are united and co-operate for good 
what grand results may not be accomplished for humanity? 



62 



Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



Standing on this threshold of the twentieth century and look- 
ing back, we find how ignorance, bigotry and superstition are 
disappearing into the night as the dawn of intelligence and a 
clearer knowledge of God's creation is unfolded. This little 
world of ours no longer appears as the whole of the creation, 
but simply as a grain of sand, an atom in the limitless expanse 
wherein are systems of suns and planets never dreamed of in 
ancient days. Even the suspicion that there were other suns 
and systems and worlds like our own was regarded, in the Dark 
Ages, as a heresy meriting death! As in the physical creation, 
so out of the narrow confines of ignorance into the greater in- 
tellectual, moral and religious world of thought, the prejudices 
that cramped and distorted mental vision are disappearing, 
and a kindlier, sweeter faith is bringing us into closer unity- 
belief in the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. 

So we see out of the centuries has been evolved the grander 
man, the man who has opinions of his own and respects the 
opinions of others. How many men have labored, suffered, 
died, to pave the way for this great result cannot be enumerat- 
ed! They stand along the pathway of history like milestones 
pointing the way out of the wilderness of ignorance and bigotry 
into the open plain of intellectual manhood. It may with truth 
be said the protesting of individuals from the fourteenth cen- 
tury down to this— protesting against the authority of the 
church to repress individual opinion and private judgment, 
SAvelled and grew in force and numbers until now, throughout 
all civilized countries, every church, and every worshipper 
therein, are so many additional monuments against the 
tyranny and oppression that, under the guise of religion, had 
settled like a pall over the whole of Europe during the dark 
ages 

These earnest and faithful laborers, many of them martyrs, 
have all been co-workers in establishing liberty and fraternity 
among men, teaching freedom of opinion and demanding the 
same right for others. As all of us to a certain extent, have 
labored to secure this freedom, so all of us are beneficiaries in 
the glorious heritage which it has brought to the world. 

If it were asked, my friends, and brethren, where the equality 
of man and his true relations to his fellow man have been con- 
tinuously taught for centuries, I would answer in the various 
secret benevolent societies which have flourished all along the 



W. Va. State Colored Normal School. 



63 



centuries. These societies, which have never sought to sup- 
plant the Church, have accomplished a great work in breaking- 
do wn the walls of sectional strife, in teaching toleration, and in 
demanding respect for the opinions of others. These Orders 
have brought the great mass of mankind in closer union, and 
have aided in lifting all classes to higher heights of intelligence 
and usefulness. 

My fellow citizens, the hope of the future is the public school 
of today. It is the corner-stone of patriotism and the bulwark 
of liberty, The degree of the education of our children will 
gauge the degree of the civilization of the State. Educated mass- 
es make peaceful masses. Education has ever been the gauge of 
progress in all lands. It is an universal uplifter of humanity 
everywhere. There can be no sure growth without it. Every 
dollar spent by the State in educating its citizens is two dollars 
saved in actual outlay to keep the peace and maintain the law. 
More education, fewer police officers; more school-houses, fewer 
alms-houses; more school teachers, fewer convicts. Higher con- 
ceptions of religion and duty follow the higher education of 
all classes. Education and religion move hand and hand, and 
this is why the State should foster both. As xVmerican citizens 
we should hold it as our first duty to stand by our public 
schools, and Normal institutions like this, which is intended for 
the higher education of the colored people of West Virginia. 
They are schools of loyalty and patriotism, and the man who 
seeks to weaken them is not a true American. The world is 
moving forward, and much of our progress is due to our effi- 
cient system of the public education of the masses. I rejoice 
with you today that our public schools all over West Virginia 
are on a rising tide; and this is especially true of the colored 
schools of our State. I regard this institution a school of great 
promise. It has been managed by its Board of Regents with skill 
and judgment. Its growth has been phenomenal. Its outlook is 
most gratifying. It will not be many years until it will be one 
of the leading colored schools of the South. We owe it to our- 
selves to stand by it. My immediate predecessor in office was 
its substantial friend; and I promise you to likewise do all in 
my power to advance its interests and widen its sphere of use- 
fulness. 

My friends, I am sure you will pardon me for a brief allusion 
to this great benevolent Order, which today has laid this cor- 



64 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



ner-stone in accordance with its beautiful ritual. As crystal 
and rock and marl and marble, through countless processes of 
transformation have found their culmination in the higher or- 
der of individual existences, so the result of your labors will de- 
velop in the personnel of your members, the subtlest and most 
beautiful combination of brotherhood that can be devised, if 
the purposes are kept active and vitalized by clear heads and 
earnest workers. 

There is yet another view not to be overlooked or underesti- 
mated. The good your association assumes to do is practical 
and tangible. It is like a grand thought that goes forth and 
multiplies itself in the intellectual gardens of the world, bearing 
its unseen fruit in thousands of minds, passing into the fullness 
of seed time and harvest time. The lessons learned within the 
association will easily be traced beyond its walls to your sever- 
al places of business, to your homes and in your daily lives 
among your fellow-men. Not all may be gifted to foresee the 
result of the substantial, as well as the beautiful work you may 
be destined to perform, but the time will come, sooner or later, 
when all will recognize in the result what a harvest of grand re- 
alities will be garnered up for the bettering of all the people of 
our State. 

Each one may think his labor amounts to little. All cannot 
be rulers, but all can be workers; and, be it remembered, if the 
private station is the post of honor, it is also the post of re- 
sponsibility. Each man is the centre of every society that sur- 
rounds him of which he is a part. Around each one of you as 
its centre this association has its vitalizaton. Each is able to 
minister to the hungry, the thirsty, the needy. These are the 
charities of an every-day life; but there are higher charities pro- 
ducing nobler qualities than the mere giving of dole to the 
needful. It is the dispensing of that intellectual food of kind 
encouraging words, the sublimest of all charities, that imparts to 
others luxuries of moral sustenance. These are the true meeds 
of love that each may scatter in the other's way, and which are 
given without impoverishing the giver, and ever attest the gen- 
erous qualities of the donor. They are also gifts that outlast 
time and go with the recipient into eternity; and if immortality 
is not a dream, then, indeed, upon the shores of futurity will be 
washed the thoughts and feelings that underlie the deeds per- 
formed in this life and will await our coming there. They will 



Which Side? 



6o 



be to you, in that land the mental children that are to give to 
you greeting*, comely and fair, and with whom you are to live 
under brighter skies in the coming time. 

It is for this reason I would suggest, as our lives are immor- 
tal, we make them sublime by feeding upon imperishable 
things. This is the true secret of religion to which the truest 
philosophy can best supply the key. How wonderful it is to 
realize that we may so live as to be brought into sympathy 
with all the beauties of nature, and these sympathies to be in- 
scribed indelibly upon the tablets of memory and will not fade. 
All else should perish because out of harmony with the perfec- 
tion of God; for, if otherwise, the walls of the splendid mansion 
which we hope to inhabit will be stained with innumerable rec- 
ords of earthly failures. 

As is laid to-day the foundation corner-stone of this edifice to 
be erected, may I suggest we also lay for ourselves a spiritual 
corner-stone in a firm belief in God, our immortality and our 
accountability. In its construction let the adornment of the 
spiritual temple show forth the life of the just man and the true 
Knight. Such you represent as symbols of the corner stone, 
and such you will represent in the spiritual building to be erect- 
ed wherein you are to exemplify the character of that being 
who is to work out a unity of all men, broader than congrega- 
tional lines, for the benefit of all the races beneath God's sun- 
shine. 



WHICH SIDE? 

An Address by Governor Geo. W. Atkinson, PH. D., LL. D., at 
P&rkersburg, West Va. 



(From "M. E. Times.") 

My Friends: — One who doubts everything except that which 
he sees, or that which he experiences personally, is an unfortun- 
ate individual, and can be of but little benefit to his fellows. 
There are, however, I am sorry to say, many such men in the 
world. They delight in discounting everything, and really take 



66 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



no testimony upon anything. With them 1 'seeing is believing," 
and that which they cannot see, or feel, is not real, and there- 
fore cannot exist. 

Conflict results from reaction. Skepticism is a reaction 
against dogmatism. The human mind despises restraint, and 
when pressed it naturally swings, pendulum like, to an opposite 
extreme This accounts, in part, for the ceaseless conflict be- 
tween conservatism and radicalism, dogmatism and skeptic- 
ism. Unbelief was born in the stagnant miasms of a corrupt 
theology. Dogmatism forced it into being, and when coupled 
with ignorance, immorality and a false philosophy, it has be- 
come formidable and dangerous to Christian civilization. 

Faith, and not doubt, is the dynamic power of the world. It 
is the greatest civilizer of the ages. Religious belief has ever 
been a stimulus to great activity and intellectual and moral 
development. The Christian is the greatest of all the eras of 
the ages. It was the dawning of a period in the world's history 
that will continue to develop until all mankind shall be forever 
free. 

The Crusaders gave a fresh impulse to progress. The Mo- 
hammedans ceased their conquests when they came in contact 
with Christianity; and they themselves were uplifted and in- 
spired to higher and nobler motives by contact with Christian 
faith and Christian thought. 

No nation has permanently prospered that refused to culti- 
vate faith in a Being greater than man. No nation will be per- 
petuated that ignores the moral teachings upon which the fab- 
ric of Christianity rests. Six thousand years of the world's 
history prove the correctness of this assertion. Faith, there- 
fore, is essential to national development and national great- 
ness. On the contrary, skepticism is both destructive and icon- 
oclastic. Tear down high ideals, and the people will become 
depraved. A religious trust— the highest of all ideals— ushers 
in a life of purity and love. In God's great loom there has been 
weaving for centuries a fabric that will ultimately be spread 
over the entire earth. Its warp is faith; its woof is love. The 
weaver is divine. The product is also divine. Skepticism is a r 
hindrance to the flying of the shuttle. It disturbs and pro- 
longs the perfecting of God's great plan. It has been the curse 
of nations. It to-day is man's worst enemy. What monuments 
for good mark its long career? Not one. On the other hand, 



Which Side? 



67 



faith is constructive and progressive. The great achievements 
in architecture, the great poems of the centuries, art, history, 
oratory, democracy, and the development of the individual 
man, are its enduring monuments. 

Fortunately out of the fifteen hundred millions of human 
beings that inhabit the earth, there are comparatively few 
that deny the existence of a God. No nation has thus far been 
discovered so ignorant that the overwhelming majority of its 
subjects do not believe in the existence of a Being greater than 
themselves, and therefore reveal a longing for some object to 
worship that they consider divine. Still, there are a great 
many persons among the civilized peoples on the globe who de- 
ny that we have any written revelation from God. They claim 
that Nature, or Conscience and Reason, are sufficient to reveal 
the great Creator's will, and teach them to do the right and 
avoid the wrong. The position of the infidel is that there will 
be no general judgment, no reward for the good, no punishment 
for the wicked,— indeed, no certainty of life beyond the grave. 
The creed of the Christian, on the other hand, is summed up in 
the passage of Scripture, "God so loved the world that he gave 
his only begotten Son, that whosever believeth on Him shall 
not perish, but have everlasting life." Moreover, it teaches 
that the proudest earthly triumphs are, at best, but transcient 
and fleeting, and that "the paths of glorv lead but to the 
grave"; whereas "godliness is profitable unto all things, hav- 
ing promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to 
come;" and that 

"We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; 
In feelings, not in figures on a dial. 

We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives 
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best." 

Now, which is right? Which side shall we take? Let us look 
into this momentous question for a few T moments; for 

" We are living, we are dwelling 

In a grand and awful time; 
In an age on ages telling, 

To be living is sublime." 

I maintain that it is the duty of every intelligent person to 
take care of himself. "Self preservation is the first law of na- 
ture," says the proverb. As an adherent of-.the Christian reli- 
gion, I hold that the Creator has placed me in this world that 



68 



Public Addresses, of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



I may, if I so elect, learn to live for ever; but I will waive for a 
few moments the argument of Christianity, as that we may 
look at this important subject in the light of reason only. 

It is proper and wise, all will admit, before entering upon any 
undertaking, for one to inquire whether it is right or wrong, 
whether it is safe or perilous? It will not be denied that there 
is always an entirely safe way; and there may be another way 
which, though it may not insure safety, yet it cannot sub- 
ject one to danger. Furthermore, it will not be denied that 
there are certain things safe for us to believe, even if they 
should be false. No penalty therefore can attach for such be- 
lief, even if it is based upon a false theory. To illustrate: I be- 
lieve in the existence of a God; I believe that the Bible is the 
Word of God; I believe in rewards and punishments; I believe in 
the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Now, I 
hold that no danger can arise from such belief, even if it were 
true, as the infidel claims, that all these things are unreal and 
false. By believing as I do in an Allwise Creator, am I more 
likely to be honorable and upright in every day life than if I 
did not so believe? I answer yes, with emphasis. It is, to my 
mind, entirely reasonable tha.t one who fixes his trust upon a 
Being that cares for him and takes cognisance of his every act, 
is more likely to be conscientious and exemplary in a greater 
degree than he who denies the existence of a God and lives in 
accordance with such profession. The one fears God and en- 
deavors to keep his commandments, while the other fears man 
only and keeps no commandments. 

By believing in a future state, or in the doctrine of rewarding 
the good and punishing the wicked, even if there were no truth 
in it and that it is purely my thical and unreal, I cannot see how 
any injury, either to myself or any other person, can result from 
it, unless it can be shown that the tendency of such belief is to 
debase rather than to elevate, which no infidel, however bla- 
tant, has ever assumed to be true. No skeptic has yet main- 
tained that the tendency of Christianity is not elevating and 
ennobling. No one has ever been base enough to assert that 
the Christian religion does not seek to lift all its subjects to a 
higher plane of usefulness and intelligence. To deny this would 
be the denial of the truth of history. If, then, a belief in the 
Gospel of the Christ make one wiser and better instead of low- 
ering and degrading him, even if the whole fabric were false, is it 



Which Side? 



69 



not a fact that the Christian would have the decided advantage 
over the skeptic even in all that pertains to this world? And 
should it turn out to be real, as I have every reason to believe 
it to be, what will be the condition of the skeptic in the world 
that is to come? 

Admitting", for the sake of argument, that the Bible is not di- 
vine, unless the unbeliever can show that its teachings are de- 
moralizing, I can see no place for him to hang a theory that it 
is other than the height of wisdom to accept it as an inspired 
revelation. If it does not imperil one to believe in the immor- 
tality of the soul; if it does not jeopardize one to believe on One 
who is supposed to be Mighty to Save the unforgiven and the 
lost; if it does not endanger one to believe in the general judg- 
ment; if there is no danger in believing that man is in a state of 
apostasy from God,— if there is no risk in accepting all these 
things as true, and by believing them we are elevated and enno- 
bled and are made more useful and influential, it seems to me 
that if the skeptic is an honest man, it becomes his duty, even 
from a worldly standpoint, to accept Christianity and thus bet- 
ter his condition and the condition of those whom he directly 
or indirectly influences in his life work. 

If it is safe to be honest and truthful aud upright and moral, 
it is also safe for one to use his utmost endeavors to comply 
with all of the requirements of the Bible, because it exacts noth- 
ing from any one that is not strictly in the line of good morals 
and upright living God says "Give me thy heart." But you 
deny the existence of a God. The Bible says "Worship God." 
But you do not believe the Bible. Now, my dear friend, as I have 
already shown that a belief either in God or the Bible does not 
degrade, although you deny that there is anything divine in 
either of them, still there is a possibility even to the skeptic 
that they are both divine, and that all the positions of the 
Christian may prove to be true, then would it not be wise for 
the unbelievers to be on the safe side by accepting the truths of 
the Gospel also? 

The atheist cannot prove that there is no God. The polythe- 
iest cannot prove that there are numerous Gods, nor can the 
pantheist prove that everything is God. A man may assert 
that death ends all, but he cannot prove it. He may declare 
that there will be no future judgment, but he cannot prove it. 
He may aver that the Bible is not an inspired book, but he can- 



70 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson . 



not verity it. However much the skeptic would delight to 
have all these things turn out in accordance with his wishes, 
still, his position is based upon the merest conjecture, and the 
results may be the very opposite of what he desires or expects. 

A knowledge of divinity is obtained through the prophecy of 
revelation, the analogy of Nature, or the testimony of history. 
It seems to me that "in no uncertain manner does the analogy 
of Nature declare its proof in support of a divine providence. 
The supremacy of established law in the material universe cre- 
ates the strong presumption that the course of man is governed 
in a like manner. Science declares the law that all matter cir- 
culates around and is dependent upon a Center. The material 
and moral universes are both the creation of the same Author, 
and is it not reasonable to conclude that the same common 
Creator governs both according to his own divine will? But 
one conclusion is possible from the testimony of history. Po- 
litical causes were constituted by God when he formed the 
frame-work of human society, but individual agencies must be 
considered as depending upon a divine ruler. Nature and his- 
tory have to do with the past. Revelation alone deals with fu- 
turity. Only to the prophetic eye is revealed the glory of that 
which is to come. Listen to the prophecy of the beyond as it 
wells from the lips of St. John, the Evangelist: 'And I saw on 
the right hand of him that sat on the throne, a book written 
within, and I saw a strong angel proclaiming, Who is worthy 
to open the book? And I wept, because no one was found wor- 
thy to open and read the book, knd one saith: Weep not; be- 
hold the lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to open the 
book; and they sung a new song; saying thou art worthy to 
take the book and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, 
and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, and hast made us 
unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the 
earth.' The consummation of all history is the redemption of 
all mankind." 

''There is plentiful redemption 

In the blood that has been shed; 
There is joy for all the members 

In the sorrows of the head. 

' If our lore were but more simple 

We should take him at his word; 
And our lives would be all sunshine 

In the sweetness of the Lord." 



Which Side? 



71 



Inasmuch as no man can divine the future, or from any 
knowledge he may gather from the book of Nature, prove the 
truth or falsity of the Christian religion, however skeptical he 
may be, the sensible man, it seems to me, cannot afford to run 
any risk that might endanger his eternal happiness or his eter- 
nal interests. The skeptical unbeliever, therefore, should cry 
out as did the Psalmist: "Have mercy upon me God, accord- 
ing to thy loving kindness; according unto the multitude of thy 
tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thor- 
oughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." This, 
my dear friend and brother, is the safe side. Which side will 
you choose? 

The universal decree of history is that Christianity alone is 
equal to the task of preparing men for great leadership, and to 
the co-operation of Christian forces can great achievements be 
won. True faith will ultimately draw all nations together and 
all mankind will be an universal brotherhood. In the full 
gleam of God's sunshine the din of war will cease, the battle- 
flags will be furled, and the parliament of man will be the feder- 
ation of the world. 

My friends, I have endeavored to discuss this great question 
from a higher and broader standpoint than that of the de- 
mands of modern materialistic science, as presented by the de- 
fenders of the supernatural. I have no time or disposition to 
debate the modern dogma that matter and force are eternal, 
and never were created, and that these are so correlated that 
no power above them can, by any possibility, interfere with 
their operation, and that there is an exact quantitative rela- 
tion between all preceding and following forces. The ablest 
modern materialists, among whom I mention Herbert Spencer, 
admit that this cannot be demonstrated by induction from ex- 
periments. I can accept the doctrine of the correlation of 
forces, of conservation of energies when a supreme power above 
all nature's forces and natural laws is admitted; but I repudi- 
ate the doctrine of modern Materialism as an undemonstrable 
scientific fact, because no mortal can answer the question, 
What gave the first impulse to matter and started it into mo- 
tion? 

A Brooklyn physician, who was a member of the Kev. Henry 
Ward Beecher's church, was one day asked by a dying patient 
if it were true that some men were, from the beginning, elected 



72 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



to be saved and others to be lost? The physician was greatly 
nonplussed, and could not answer the interrogatory in a satis- 
factory manner. At the next prayermeeting service— it being 
the custom on such occasions for members to interrogate the 
pastor— the young physician reported the circumstance to 
which I have referred to Mr. Beecher. His reply was instanta- 
neous: "I would have told him that he must get nearer home 
to the real issue than that. I would have said, my brother, the 
'elect' are the whosoever will, and the 'non-elect' are the whoso- 
ever won't. If your trust in the Christ is full and complete, 
you will be saved, and if it is not, you will be lost." I was per- 
sonally present, and was greatly impressed with the pith}', 
powerful, practical theology the great divine taught in the few 
sentences I. have quoted. His views met my own perfectly upon 
that great controversial subject, and I have always adhered to 
that position as the correct one, and I adhere to it now. 

So, in the few remarks I have made upon the subject of skep- 
ticism, I have sought to meet the man of fairness and thought- 
fulness upon plainer and more practical ground than taking 
him out into the broad, foggy field of metaphysics and psychol- 
ogy. I have endeavored to show him as logically as I can that 
even if the entire teachings of Christianity are a myth, it will 
pay him to accept them, because, if they should prove to be 
real, as we believe them to be, he would then be on the safe side; 
and if they should turnout to be false, he would have lost noth- 
ing by placing his trust implicitly in the Christ, whom I believe 
was, and is, the Savior of the world. 



Injunctions, Etc. 



73 



INJUNCTIONS. 

Governor Atkinson's Views on Injunctions and Labor Strikes. 

State of West Virginia, 

Executive Chamber, 

Charleston, Aug. 3, 1897 
Messrs. Gompers, Sovereign and Rachford, Committee, &c. 
Gentlemen:— 

Referring to your visit to me several days ago, in which there 
was a friendly discussion between us of certain phases of the 
labor troubles in this State, and especially of the strike of the 
coal miners, and to your several telegrams recently received, 
and referring also especially to your desire that I should take 
steps to secure to you and the workiugmen of the State, the 
right and privilege of holding public meetings for the discussion 
of matters concerning the welfare of the said miners, I beg to 
say to you that I have given the matter most earnest consider- 
ation. In this controversy, there are to be considered both the 
rights of property and the rights of citizens. In our talk, you 
spoke of a certain injunction that had been issued by the Circuit 
Court of Marion County against you and others, according to 
the terms of which, as you understood them, you were prohibit- 
ed from holding public meetings for the purpose of discussing 
the benefits of the organization of the coal miners of the Fair- 
mont region. I understand that this injunction has not been 
served upon you, and that you have not been called upon to 
make any answer thereto. 

The Circuit Court of Marion County belongs to the judicial 
department of the State Government, which is a separate and 
independent department from the Executive; and it would be 
obviously improper for me to express my opinion as to whether 
said injunction was properly or improperly issued or whether 
it is too sweeping in its character, or too comprehensive in its 
scope; and especially as the matter has not yet been determin- 
ed by the Supreme Court of this State, to which you can take 
an appeal, and in which you can, I have no doubt, have a fair 
and proper hearing. I have, however, requested the Attorney- 



74 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



General to appear in this matter and assist in having an early 
adjudication by the Supreme Court of the State, of this injunc- 
tion proceeding. I have done this because the injunction pre- 
sents somewhat novel questions, and I believe is the first of the 
kind to be issued in this State, and because it affects the rights 
of a large number of the citizens of West Virginia. 

The Bill of Rights of the Constitution of this State guaran- 
tees to the people thereof "The right to assemble in a peacea- 
ble manner, to consult for the common good, to instruct their 
representatives, or to apply for redress of grievances", and it 
also provides that "No law abridging freedom of speech or of 
the press shall be passed." These are rights which have come 
down to us from the days of Magna Charta, which rights, as 
long as I am Governor, shall be preserved x,o the people of the 
State, if in my power so to do. 

It is the right and duty of the Legislature to enact laws: of the 
Courts to construe them; and of the Executive to enforce thetn. 
No one of these departments should interfere with or usurp the 
functions or prerogatives of the others. I will say, however, 
that I now hold and always have held that the right of free 
speech and of public assembly should in no wise be abridged, 
and that the widest possible liberty should be allowed all of our 
people. I have alwa3 T s maintained that both labor and capital 
had the inherent right to organize for the better protection of 
both of their interests, provided such organizations are made 
and maintained within the restrictions of the Statutes of our 
State. It is improper and unlawful to use threats, force or in- 
timidation of any sort to induce men to connect themselves 
with or become a part of any organized body of capitalists or 
laborers. It is also improper and unlawful for any body of 
men, organized or unorganized, to trepass upon the property 
or premises of a citizen; but it is my opinion that labor organ- 
izers or capital organizers, or any other organizers for that 
matter, may present their causes in a proper manner, in public 
places, to the people, and induce them, by moral suasion, to 
connect themselves with any organization which is in itself not 
unlawful in its aims and purposes. In other words, I claim the 
right for myself as a citizen of West Virginia, to discuss poli- 
tics, religion, science, labor organizations, or any other subject 
I may choose to discuss, in public halls, or on public highways, 
provided always that I confine myself to the requirements of 



Reprieve Refused. 



75 



the law which inhibits me from trespassing upon the property 
and vested rights of other citizens. I mean to say that the 
Bill of Rights of our Constitution allows me these privileges, 
and that no Court can impair these rights, if I confine myself 
to moral suasion, and do not incite the people to riotous con- 
duct or other unlawful acts. 

So long as the working men of this State conduct their cause 
in a lawful and peaceful manner, it will be 1113' duty, as it will be 
my pleasure, to protect them; but if they should, in an ill- 
advised hour, violate the law by interfering with the rights or 
propert\< of others, it will be my sworn duty to repress ener- 
getically and speedily all lawlessness, and to see that the pub- 
lic peace is maintained at all hazards, and that the property of 
our people is protected; for we must all, whether rich or poor, 
employer or employe, high or low, respect and obey the law. 
Very Respectfully yours, 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Go vernor. 



REPRIEVE REFUSED. 

GOVERNOR ATKINSON REFUSES A REPRIEVE 



To Albert Voiers, the Condemned Fayette County Murderer. 



He Is Sentenced to Die on the Scaffold On Tuesday Next, 



But He Has Escaped from Jail and Is Now at Large With No 
Clue to his Whereabouts— The Governor Heard the Final 
Petition for Clemency Last Night and at Once Gave Out 
His Refusal and the Reasons for His Determination. Gov- 
ernor Atkinson Reviews the Case Throughout and the Ar- 
guments For and Against Mercy to the Condemned Man, 
Presented to Him — Decides That the Trial Was Regular 
and That All Fair Opportunities Were Given the Accused. 



(From Wheeling Register. Aug. 22, 1897.) 

Charleston, W. Va., August 21.— Governor Atkinson this 
evening gave a final hearing to the petitions for the commuta- 



76 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. VV. Atkinson. 



tion of the sentence of Albert Voiers to life imprisonment and 
immediately after the hearing, the Governor gave his decision, 
refusing to interfere with the sentence of the court. 

The execution of Albert Voiers and Jerry Brown is set for 
Tuesday next at Fayette. Voiers escaped from jail Wednesday 
night and has not been heard from since. 

Governor Atkinson, in his refusal, says: 

In the matter of the application for commutation of the sen- 
tence in the case of the State vs. Albert Voiers, charged with 
the murder of Charles Gibson, in Fayette county, on the 28th 
day of February, 1896, I desire to say that there is no question 
as to the fact that a deplorable murder was committed, and 
that a trial was had, and a verdict of "murder in the first de- 
gree" was rendered against said Voiers. The testimony in this 
case seems conclusive to my mind that Voiers was unquestion- 
ably a party to the murder of Gibson, and that he was, proba- 
bly, the ring leader in the crime. The case has been ably argued 
before me. Counsel set out the claim that Voiers did not have 
a fair trial, and that he was not defended as he should have 
been under our Constitutional provision. It is also claimed by 
counsel for Voiers that he was a voluntary witness against 
Wiley Lewis, who was charged with the murder of John Cochran, 
subsequently to the murder of Gibson, and because of this fact, 
he is entitled to the mercy claimed, on the ground of "public 
policy." I cannot see that the rule as to "public policy" ap- 
plies in this case, for the reason that it is a separate and distinct 
case for the murder in which Voiers himself was charged with 
being a party. Clark Lewis and Albert Voiers were tried joint- 
ly in the criminal court of Fayette county upon the charge of 
murder. It is true that Voiers was not represented by able 
counsel, but the other two parties, Lewis and Slaughter, were 
represented by fairly good lawyers; and they, in appearing for 
Clark Lewis and Wilbur Slaughter, also appeared indirectly for 
Voiers. I am of opinion that all three of the parties had a fair 
trial and were represented by counsel, as the law provides. The 
evidence, in my j udgment, is clear and convincing against Voiers. 
Clark Lewis, from the first, insisted that Voiers was the princi- 
pal in the crime. He stuck to this statement on the gallows. 
Slaughter also testified in the same manner. Voiers is not en- 
titled to any consideration or immunity because he testified 
against Wiley Lewis. It was clearly his duty to do this, with- 



Reprieve Refused. 



77 



out any promise from any officer of the State of relief in his be- 
half. However, Voiers, in his testimony against Wiley Lewis, 
made himself a double murderer; and, instead of his testimony 
being used for commutation of sentence, it should be used against 
him. If he were not the principal in the murder of Gibson, he 
was at least particeps criminis, and was also particepscriminis 
in the murder of John Cochran. He is therefore a double mur- 
derer and should pay the penalty of these crimes. 

Another point made by counsel for Voires is that the law 
does not allow the conviction of a man merely upon the testi- 
mony of accomplices, uncorroborated. This is the law as laid 
down in the text books, but our Supreme Court, in one or more 
cases, has held that a man may be convicted on uncorrobora- 
ted testimony. In the case before me, the evidence is absolute- 
ly convincing, and corroborating circumstances and testimony 
are, therefore not essential. Consequently, I must hold that 
corroborative testimony is unnecessary, and I, therefore, over- 
rule this point of counsel's argument. 

It has been argued before me that Voiers was not legally 
tried, and was. therefore, not properly convicted. Even if this 
fact were established, I hold that it is not a. proper argument 
to offer for the commutation of the sentence of Voiers. If the 
trial were improper and illegal, the conviction was certainly il- 
legal; and if this be true, he should not be punished at all; but 
counsel do not insist that Voiers should have an outright par- 
don. They admit quasi guilt, and only ask that the verdict of 
the Court be commuted from death by hanging to imprison- 
ment for life. If I consider this point at all, I must allow the 
prisoner to go free, since it is out of my power to grant him a 
new trial, by which he might be able, according to argument of 
counsel to prove his innocence of the crime charged against 
him. 

I have read the petitions pro and con in this case. They 
amount to nothing in treating of the merits of the case before 
me. The question before me is: "Did Albert Voiers participate 
in the murder of Charles Gibson, for which he was convicted?" 
If he did, the verdict of the jury is the proper one. If he did 
not, he is innocent, and should not be punished at all. The 
jury and the Court decided that he was guilty. In my 
judgment, the Court and the jury were correct in their finding. 
They decided that Voiers was guilty of the murder of Gibson, or 



78 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



at least was a party to the murder. Subsequently, Voiers, who 
was confronted with the gallows, and hoping for the commuta- 
tion of a sentence to imprisonment in the penitentiary for life, 
and being promised by the officials of the Criminal Court of 
Kanawha county such immunity, confessed that he was a party 
to the murder of John Cochran, thereby making himself a 
double murderer, and for this reason, asks leniency. In view of 
all the facts I can not grant this plea. He admits guilt in both 
cases as an accessory, and under the law, an accessory is as 
guilty as the principal. It seems to me, in view of all the facts, 
that the law in his case should be allowed to take its course. 

Taking the testimony as a whole, which I have examined 
with carefulness, I am convinced that Albert Voiers was one of 
the murderers of both Gibson and Cochran, and. inasmush 
as the Criminal Court^ of Fayette county, in the manner 
provided by law, saw fit to convict him of one of these murders, 
namely: Charles Gibson, I do not feel it to be my duty to com- 
mute the sentence to life imprisonment, as asked by counsel for 
him. I am compelled, therefore in the interest of public justice 
and the maintenance of the laws of our State for the protection 
of life and property, to overrule the motion. 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of West Virginia. 

Charleston, August 21, 1897. 



ADDRESS 

of Governor G. W. Atkinson, D. C. L. of West Va., at Colum- 
bus, 0., Sept. 9, 1897, a t the Reunion of the "Army 
ofW. Ya." 



Soldiers of the Army of West Virginia, Ladies and Gen- 
tlemen: 

It affords me more than ordinary pleasure to meet with you 
at this, your 21st assembling as an organized body of soldiers 
of the late civil war, because your society comprises the volun- 
teers from my own native State of West Virginia. W nile your 



Reunion of the Army of West Virginia. 79 



numbers are growing smaller every year, I am glad to be able 
to testify, from this great gathering, that there are many of 
you still among us. I wish it were possible for your roll to 
never grow less. 

Our Republic is the u wonder of the world," that towers above 
all the rest like the stars above the hill tops; and our soldiers 
of the late civil war preserved it for their children and their 
children's children, we trust, forever. The poet and the painter 
and the historian have made immortal seven 1 -golden periods" 
in the history of the world. They were Egypt under the 
Ptolemies, Palestine under Solomon, Athens under Pericles, 
Rome under Augustus, Italy under Leo X, France under Louis 
XIV, and England under Elizabeth. I would not detract from 
the glory which justly belongs to each of these periods of au- 
thentic history; but to every student, it seems to me, that each 
and all must readily admit that another period of govern- 
ment of the people, by the people and for the people, under the 
providence of God, has within the century that is now grandly 
rolling out, been added to the list, which outshines them all, 
and that one is the Republic of the United States. It leads the 
van of human progress. In growth and greatness it stands un- 
precedented and unparalleled. It is, without boasting, the 
foremost Nation beneath the stars; and it stands to-day, with- 
out controversy or cavil, as the flag-ship of the world, v 

Men are qualified for ideal citizenship only in so far aV~they 
comprehend its demands and its responsibilities. He who is 
blind to his Nation's interests is also blind to its wants. He 
who is either from ignorance or bigotry unable or unwilling to 
measure the needs of his Government and the wants of its sub- 
jects, is unfit to assume any of its burdens and direct in the 
management of its affairs. The true citizen is a representative 
of the Nation itself in its broadest life. Peace has its struggles 
and triumphs as well as war; and to rise to its heights of manly 
effort requires a broad and earnest comprehension. The major- 
ity of our American people, however, have a proper conception 
of the Nation's needs, and have therefore never failed to meas- 
ure up to every added responsibility. The soldiers of the late 
war for the Union are proof positive of the correctness of this 
conclusion. A nation of patriots make a nation of endurance. 
There will be no need of a standing army in the United States 
as long as these soldiers before me and their associates live. 



80 Public Addresses. &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



The marvelous development of the American Republic, my 
friends, is not the mere outgrowth of circumstances. The phys- 
ical and mechanical power which have enabled a crude and com- 
paratively unlettered people to leap to the forefront in so short 
space of time, is not circumstantial. It is the outgrowth of the 
strong and active brains of men and women, aided by ma- 
chinery of their own invention, applied to the useful arts and 
sciences of every day life. The power that takes nature's raw 
materials and fashions them into finished products for every 
day use, and for the distribution of these necessary articles, 
comforts and luxuries of life among all classes, of itself produces 
greatness as well as wealth. This is what our people have been 
doing for more than a hundred years, and this is why I claim 
that the seven golden periods of history to which I have allu- 
ded, pale into insignificance when compared with the history of 
the American Republic, which I have classed as the eighth and 
the last; and our patriot soldiers did their full share in bringing 
this about. President McKinley, standing by the tomb of Gen- 
eral Grant, said "the deeds of a great man never die/' This is, 
in a measure, true; and in this splendid presence of a large rem- 
nant of the Army of the Union, I declare, with doubled empha- 
sis, that the heroic deeds of our soldiers at the front cannot 
perish from the earth. 

The lamented Garfield, in his great speech at Arlington Na- 
tional Cemetery, delivered some twenty years ago, said: "If si- 
lence be ever golden, it must be here beside the graves of these 
13,000 soldiers, whose lives were more significant than speech, 
and whose death was a poem the music of which was never 
sung." The martyred President, great as he was, never utter- 
ed a grander truth than that. Their lives were truly more 
significant than the words of poet or historian, and the records 
they made on the field of conflict will live forever. 

Pardon me, my countrymen, for a brief retrospect of the 
cloudy days of the past to many of those in the audience before 
me. When the strong arm of rebellion attempted to pull down 
our flag, the Government at Washington said: We must have 
a million of men who are willing to go to the front, and if need 
be, offer their lives for their country's honor and its constitu- 
tion. Under that call, thousands and tens of thousands 
promptly went to the front. From nearly fifty thousand homes 
they went — these citizen soldiers. 



Reunion of the Army of West Virginia. 



81 



How they went forth to die? 
Pale, earnest thousands from the dizzy mills, 
And sunburnt thousands from the harvest hills, 
Quick, eager thousands from the city streets, 
And storm-tried thousands from the fisher's fleets. 

How they went forth to die? 
Heeding, yet shrinking not from the hot breath 
Of the flre-angel in the front of death, 
Seeing afar, yet meeting without fear 
The fever-angel lurking in the rear. 

How they went forth to die? 
Counting their lives as the unvalued dust 
Trod 1>3* a nation, bearing in its trust, 
Content if but their sunken graves should be 
The foot-prints of the progress of the free. 

Through 5,574 battles they went, and through four weary 
years of war they upheld the flag, at a cost of 4-1,000 killed in 
battle, 49,000 died of wounds, 189,000 died from disease and 
exposure, and 160,000 were captured and made prisoners of 
war, of which number 61,000 gave up their lives in prison pens 
rather than desert the nag, which all prisoners of war had an 
offer to do. In this great conflict 840,000 Federal soldiers 
went down, but they went down, thank God, to honored 
graves. 

Such patriotism, such bravery, such endurance, such obed- 
ience to principle, such love of country, and such devotion to 
the unseen are unparalleled in the history of the world. These 
soldiers followed Grant and Sherman and Sheridan and Han- 
cock from Forts Donaldson and Henry to Vicksburg, and from 
Vicksburg to Atlanta, and from Atlanta towards the North 
again, and finally to Richmond and to Appomattox. They cut 
in twain the greatest rebellion of modern times, if not of all 
times, and gave to us one flag instead of two, and gave us also 
a united country from the surges of the Atlantic to the sunset 
sea, whose waves make music in the golden sands of California. 

On the Boston Common stands a costly granite monument, 
on which I read and from which I copied this inscription: "To 
the men of Boston who died for their country upon land and 
sea in the war which kept the Union whole, destroyed slavery 
and maintained the Constitution, the grateful city has built 
this monument, that their example may speak to coming gen- 
erations." 

My friends, that monument and inscription are expressions 
of true patriotism; and that is the feeling w T hich should be ex- 



82 Public Addressks, Sec, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



pressed by all Americans toward, not only the dead, but the 
surviving soldiers of the war for the Union. If I mistake not 
the indications of the present, that is the way our entire people 
will feel and act toward them after a few more generations have 
come and gone. 

The immortal Lincoln— and let me say right here, it makes no 
difference how high on the pyramid of American statesmen the 
names of other great men may stand, all unbiased persons will 
admit that the name of Abraham Lincoln stands pre-eminently 
above all the rest. The immortal Lincoln, in his great speech 
at Gettysburg, expressed in language that seemed to be on fire 
and is blazing yet, that sympathy and love which should be 
cherished within the breast of every true American, when he 
said: "It is for us, the living, to dedicate ourselves to the great 
work which our soldiers, living and dead, have so far, so nobly 
advanced. It is for us, the living, to consecrate ourselves to the 
work remaining to be done; that from the graves of these 
heroes we take increased devotion to the cause for which the 
dead soldiers of the republic gave the last full measure of devo- 
tion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall have not 
died in vain; that this Union, under God, shall have a new birth 
of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, 
for the people shall not perish from the earth." 

Fellow citizens, more than any other one thing patriotism 
constitutes the State. It was not the powers at Washington, 
during that dark period to which we have been referring that 
were the government. It was the soldiers in the field. They 
were the State. High-raised battlements, or thick, massive, 
walls, or proud cities, or starred and spangled Courts do not 
constitute a State; but proud noble men — men who know their 
rights, and knowing dare maintain them; men who back the 
sovereign law and are loyal to its teachings; men who will crush 
the tyrant while they rend his chains, and, if necessity requires 
it, offer themselves as a sacrifice for their country's good and 
glory. These constitute a State. Such were our citizen-soldiers 
in the late war for the Union. Those of you who are yet alive 
are the Nation's wards, and a grateful people will see that you 
are provided for, because you were participants in the greatest 
war of history. 

My countrymen, we rejoice to-day over a united Nation. It 
was Prentiss who said, "I can stand by the far-away Penob- 



Reunion of the Army of West Virginia. 



83 



scot and say my countrymen. I can stand by the rippling wa- 
ters of Lake Erie and say my countrymen. I can stand under 
the shadows of the Rocky Mountains and say my countrymen; 
and here beside the Father of Waters I can say my country- 
men." So, standing here to-day in the Capitol of the great 
State of Ohio — great in grandeur, great in wealth, great in re- 
sources, great in loyalty to the Nation, and great in the service 
it rendered to our country in the dark days of war— I can with 
Prentiss say, "My countrymen." Our citizenship is not hem- 
med in by the lines of States, but like the patriotism of our sol- 
diers, living and dead, it has the majestic sweep of the Conti- 
nent. The placid Ohio river, as it sweeps for five hundred miles 
along the border of your State, in its meandering way to the 
sea,, does not tell of New York or Pennsylvania or West Vir- 
gina or Kentucky or Indiana or Illinois whose borders it laves; 
but it tells of one country, one Nation indivisible and insepara- 
ble, the greatest, grandest, freest, best government beneath the 
stars. Yes, my friends, it tells only of the Union our fathers 
created and these soldiers preserved for us and our posterity 
forever. 

My friends, the war in which these soldiers participated ex- 
tended over a period of four years, caused a more lavish expen- 
diture of money, and called into the field larger forces of men 
and arms than any other war of modern times. The fight- 
ing was desperate on both sides. Officers and soldiers exhibited 
a courage and prowess equal, if not superior, to any hitherto 
on record. The war began with slavery in the ascendant, with 
cotton ruling the commercial world, the South boastful and de- 
fiant, and the governments of Europe predicting the speedy 
downfall of the American Republic and its division into petty 
provinces and dominions. It closed, thank God, with slavery 
effectually abolished; the nations of the world freed from their 
thralldom to the Southern staple; the South humbled, and 
though somewhat sullen, yet improving in temper; and the 
European governments ready to acknowledge the power of re- 
publican institutions to pass through an ordeal which would 
have involved in ruin many of the older and supposed stronger 
governments of Europe. 

It is said that no nation becomes secure without three wars, 
and it is a pleasing thought that we have had ours. The first 
was for independence, the second was to justify ourselves before 



84 



Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



the foreign nations, the third was the one in which brothers 
were engaged in deadly combat. Let us hope that this predic- 
tion is true as applied to this country, and that in the years to 
come our fair land may never again be drenched in fraternal 
blood. 

My friends, an important lesson of the late fratricidal con- 
flict is that both personal and political liberty are requisite to 
develope the highest cast of physical and intellectual manhood. 
These elements furnish the amplest opportunities for the exer- 
cise of that self-control which is the germ and essence of every 
virtue, and for that expansive and ameliorating culture by 
which one's entire nature is exalted in the scale of being, and is 
clothed with the grace, dignity and authority of the lords of 
creation. 

With a noble system of internal improvements, penetrating 
and rewarding the industry of our people; with moral and intel- 
lectual surpassing physical improvements; with churches, 
school houses and colleges daily multiplying throughout the 
land, bringing education and religions instruction to the homes 
of all the people, they may not only challenge the admiration 
of the civilized world, but conquer in civilization's name every 
foe that may chance to cross their pathway. These great sys- 
tems exhibited the individual man— the individual Federal sol- 
dier—in a higher degree of development and society in a happier 
civilization than could possibly be the outgrowth of any gov- 
ernment not based upon the solid grounds of universal freedom. 
Thus standing, thus equipped, thus marshaled in a massive 
army, like Constantine, the Great, our soldiers in the field 
looked upward and saw the sign of deliverance under freedom's 
banner, and in that sign they conquered. 

Another lesson of the war, my countrymen, is the great sacri- 
fice, the marvelous sacrifice, that men will make for principle. 
This lesson of patriotism, this lesson of endurance, this lesson 
of devotion to the unseen, this lesson of love for the right, can 
never be forgotten, can never be lost on a cultured, loyal race 
of men and women like those who make up this and similar 
audiences to-day. Generations yet unborn will be impressed in 
the same manner. Adovvn the ages the multitudes will read 
and be persuaded that nothing short of principle — great princi- 
ple — could induce men to make the sacrifices these dead and 
living soldiers made for their country and their flag. 



Reunion of the Army of West Virginia. 



85 



Still another lesson of the war, is the deep, unflattering love 
that the masses cherish for the citizen-soldier. Remember, my 
friends, that these soldiers were not professional soldiers — were 
not educated for war. They were citizen soldiers; and we should 
remember also that these citizen-soldiers, this vast army of 
volunteer citizens, suppressed the most gigantic rebellion that 
the world has any record of. The English rebellion of the sev- 
enteenth century, which began in 1642 by an effort of parlia- 
ment to seize the military power of the country, was one of the 
great rebellions of history. In that memorable conflict parlia- 
ment obtained the ascendency, Charles II. went to the block 
in 1649, and a republic succeeded monarchy under the protec- 
torate of Cromwell. 

The French revolution of the eighteenth century, which was a 
Auolent reaction against that absolutism which had come in 
the course of time to supplant the old feudal institutions of the 
country, was also one of the noted rebellions in history; but the 
American rebellion, in cost and carnage, surpassed them both, 
and these citizen-soldiers put it down. It took four of the best 
years of their lives to do the work, but during that time they 
settled two great questions for all the ages. The first of these 
great problems was: That human slavery was not of God, nor 
was it in sympathy with the spirit and genius of our institu- 
tions, and it, in consequence of these facts, had to go down. It 
was burned to death amid the blazing rafters of the Southern 
Confederacy. The second problem settled was that this is a 
Nation and not a Confederacy— that the States are not sover- 
eign, but on the contrary, the national government alone is su- 
preme. Now that these two great questions have been disposed 
of, it is universally conceded that they were properly settled-that 
the cause of the Union was right, forever right, and the cause of 
the Confederacy was wrong— forever wrong. Our war was, 
therefore, just. We want but oneUnion, one flag, oneConstitu- 
tion, one country, one destiny. Our fathers had no other idea 
than this. Our interests, our destinies are one. Our land can 
never be shared in peace by rival nations. In the years to come, 
let us stand together as we should, so the great Mississippi, un- 
vexed by civil strifes, may sweep on forever in her wandering 
way to the sea. 

These soldiers were actuated by higher and purer motives 
than any other soldiers that ever assembled; and they exhibited 



86 



Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



a spectacle of unyielding fortitude and self-denying magnanim- 
ity unequaled in the annals of mankind. Others, for spoils or 
honor, may have fought as desperately. Others, when far from 
their homes and their country, have endured and persevered for 
self-preservation; but where in all history is there an example of 
a soldiery that continued in the service as did these men, except 
it was from an inward principle and a sense of duty? They 
were imbued with a loftier and a more expanded spirit of pa- 
trotism and philantrophy and achieved more for the happiness 
of their country than any other army that ever existed; and 
where in all the ages is there au act of moral sublimity equal to 
this last act of self-devotion? It has been aptly said by another 
that we will never need a standing army in the United States as 
long as we can even remotely remember the civil contest from 
1861 to 1865. 

These are some of the aehievments of the war for the Union, 
and this is a part of the record of what the citizen-soldiers of 
America did for their country in the hour of its greatest peril. 
Is it anything but reasonable, therefore, that we should honor 
them to-day? 

Still another lesson of the war, my fellow citizens, is the new 
dispensation it brought to our country and our people. Slav- 
ery and state sovereignty were^buried in the same grave. In 
their stead a higher ideal of freedom in the Republic grew up, 
and greater confidence in our national lite was established. In 
ante beJlum times all questions of foreign and domestic polity, 
all economic questions, the relations of labor to capital, and 
the relations of the States to the Nation, were all influenced and 
controlled by a constant dread of a dissolution of the Union. 
Witness to-day the gigantic strides of the great Republic un- 
der the new order of things in these post bellum times. Our 
population has actually doubled since the war. Railways have 
more than quadrupled. The national wealth has grown from 
twelve billion dollars in 1860 to over fifty billions in 1897. 
Why, my friends, more wealth has been created in the United 
States during the last twenty -five years than has been added to 
the accumulations of the world since the western continent was 
discovered. The past can offer no parallel to the present, be- 
cause it knew no similar conditions. The conflict in the past 
has been largely one of personal right. The citizen has been 
evolved from the serf, and the freeman from the slave. To this 



Reunion of the Army of West Virginia. 



87 



end all of the forces of civilization have been shaped. The pre- 
sent is not a question of personal right, but of just opportun- 
ity. We have simply come upon a new era. The maxims of the 
past are no longer safe land-marks. The social bases of the 
past are too narrow for the demands of the present. The 
domain of personal duty has been greatly enlarged. The rela- 
tions of the individual have been widely extended. The area of 
mutual obligations has been amazingly increased. The citizen 
has become responsible for direction as well as allegiance. The 
individual is now the pivot of progress, and personal indepen- 
dence is the test of social forces. Under this new regime there 
is confidence, safety, security everywhere. No phantoms over- 
shadow our land. No specters, either of slavery or secession, 
haunt us, nor does any abyss yawn for our destruction. Truly 
we live under a new dispensation. Our people have taken a 
new departure. They have stepped out on a higher plane of 
living, and their ideas of national life are as thoroughly new as 
they were the day they threw off the yoke of British tyranny 
and became citizens of independent States. There is sunshine 
in almost every American home. There is increasing prosper- 
ity in every business. There is promise of thrift in every call- 
ing. The hum of our industries never ceases. Ours as a rule 
are the most contented people on God's green footstool, and 
are envied by all the other nations of the world. There is no 
approaching ship that does not bring to our shores a cargo of 
human freight to join their interests and their destinies with 
ours, and to share our blessings and our toils. 

But, my fellow citizens, the most important lesson of the 
great conflict is the demonstrated qualities of strength and en- 
durance which the Union possessed in time of war. Its adhesiv- 
nessand elasticity differed materially from the estimates placed 
upon it by monarchists abroad. I remember of reading when 
I was a boy that Talleyrand— the philosopher, the bishop, the 
diplomat— said our republic "is a giant without bones". Ma- 
cauley, the prince of English historians, insisted that it "was 
all sail and no anchor, and consequently could not survive the 
century." While De Tocqueville declared "it had no power to 
sustain itself in case of domestic dissension, and that the Union 
presented no definite object to patriotic feeling." The civil war 
proved these wise-acres to be wrong. The great republic show- 
ed itself to be a giant with a back-bone as stiff as Bunker Hill 



88 Public Addresses, etc., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



Monument; that it had massive ballast as well as sail, and that 
the love of country possessed by our valiant army was the de- 
finite object to patriotic feeling* that De Tocqueville mourned 
the absence of. Moreover, it had the strength to overcome the 
feeling of uncertainty which the spectre of secession created — a 
spectre that the iron will of Jackson, the magnetic rhetoric of 
Webster, and the eloquence of Clay could not cause to down, 
but which went down serenely at the bidding of the men who 
carried the muskets, and to-day peace and security reign from 
sea to sea. 

A final lesson of the war is that no rule or ruin party can live 
in this country. The South tried that policy on human slavery 
and was defeated. It also tried it on State sovereignty and was 
overwhelmed. The anarchists tried their hand and were badly 
worsted. The Mafias attempted to blow us up. We will blow 
them up. All un-American isms of whatever name and kind 
must yield to our higher ideas of right. Monarchists for a cen- 
tury have been praying for our ruin. We will live to ruin them 
if they cross our path of progress. Revolutionists can find no 
home here. Americans will destroy and crush to death any 
party or body of men that will set themselves up to ruin or to 
rule. The civil war settled this principle forever. 

My countrymen, pardon me for one thought more: Let us 
not believe in death, but in immortality. Let us believe that 
to our dead soldiers has been given such places as suit the 
full grown energies of heaven. Let us believe that nothing can 
bereave them of the records they have made here, and that they 
are now something far advanced in state, and that they wear 
brighter crowns than man can ever weave them. 

Let us pledge ourselves anew to rear to the memories of these 
soldiers living and dead this fabric of State, until its towering 
monument shall catch the first rays of the rising and the last 
rays of the setting sun. As an army in war fighting for unity 
and peace: — 

"Your work is done. 
But while the race of mankind endure, 

Let your great example stand 

Collossal, seen of every land, 
And keep the soldiers firm, the statesmen pure. 

Till in all lands and through all human story, 

The path of duty be the way to glory. 



"For though the giant ages heave the hill, 
And break the shore, and and evermore 



Address at the Tri-State Reunion. 



89 



Make and break, and work their will: 

Though world on world in myriad myriads roll 
Round us, each with different powers, 
And other forms of life than ours, 

What know we greater than the soul? 

On God and godlike men we build our trust." 



ADDRESS 

of Governor Atkinson, at Huntington, W. Va., during the Tri- 
State Reunion, Grand Army of the Republic. 



September 15th, 1807. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:— 

This large gathering of Union soldiers, from three States, as- 
sembled to-day in the marvelous valley of the Ohio, means 
more than the mere assembling together. It recalls scenes of 
carnage in which all of you acted a noble part, and in so doing, 
you preserved your Country and its flag. I love my native 
State. I love her people. I love her magnificent mountains 
and her charming vales. I love the majestic Ohio river as it 
sweeps past our homes, on its meandering way to the sea, bear- 
ing upon its bosom the products of our mills, our factories, our 
farms and our forges. Hemmed in on either side by God's 
grand hills, rock-ribbed and towering in the sunlight, which 
look down as unwavering sentinels upon our splendid achieve- 
ments, our marvelous development, and our magnificent des- 
tiny, could I do otherwise than admire and love such a river 
and such surroundings? My countrymen, God never made a 
richer and more beautiful valley than the charming, prosperous 
valley of the Ohio. 

Talk as you may of the Ehine and the Rhone and the Seine 
and theArve and the Tiber and the Thames. Those valleys are 
all rich and beautiful and picturesque and grand; but the Ohio 
—our own Ohio— with its salt, and its clay, and its iron, and its 
coal, and its oil, and its gas, and its stone, and its timber, and 
its climate, and its soil, and its scenery excels them all. 



90 Public Addresses, &c:, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



"Bright are the waters of Sing-su-hay, 
And sweet are the floods that thitherward stray," 

Yet O, 'tis only the American can say, 
How the waters of the Ohio outshine them all. 

The possibilities of this valley are incalculable. Its wealth, 
like that of Croesus, cannot be told— cannot be estimated; and 
its inhabitants are among the broadest, noblest, manliest, 
bravest, best people that to-day tread the earth beneath God's 
sunshine. 

My friends and fellow citizens, a very pleasant duty has been 
assigned to me to-day, by your Committee of Arrangements— 
that of speaking for the large body of citizens who did not bear 
arms in the late rebellion; but who were smart enough, if you 
will allow the expression, to never carry a musket or a canteen 
or a knapsack or a sword or a pistol or a bowie-knife. This 
privilege was assigned to me, I suppose, because your Commit- 
tee knew that I did not spill very much blood myself in that ever 
memorable conflict — the late civil war. From the great army 
of "stay-at-homes" in 1861, they evidently wanted some 
brave (?) civilian to deliver a few brief and feeble utterances 
upon this occasion, and somehow they fell upon your humble 
servant to perform this very important duty. (Laughter.) 

Mr. President, where one man went to war in 1861, about 
fifty staid at home; and I have the melancholy pleasure to in- 
form you that I was one of that Mty. (Applause). My soldier 
friends, looking back over your experiences from 1861 to '65, do 
you blame me for that? (Cries of "No, no.") Every one of you, 
brave as you are and were, laid awake many a night gnawing 
a file and blaming yourself for being foolish enough to volun- 
teer in an army to stand out in open field for $ 13 a month, and 
let a lot of "Johnnies" shoot at you for three years, or during 
the war. (Loud laughter.) A thousand times and more, every 
one of you— and I do not discount your bravery either as sol- 
diers or men — prayed for a wall of granite forty feet thick, to 
rise up between you and the enemy; and not only that, you 
prayed that it might remain there until the end of the war. 
(Loud applause.) If any brave old soldier in this audience to- 
day wants to deny it, let him stand up and be counted. 
(Laughter.) 

But, Mr. President, I myself was in the army. I, though not 
yet sixteen, mustered up a superabundance of courage and en- 
listed in 1864 in the "Feather-bed service" of "Uncle Sam." 



Address at the Tri-State Reunion. 



91 



(Laughter.) I was one of that great army of braves who vol- 
unteered in the "Quartermaster's department" at f 100.00 a 
month and rations; and with perhaps ten thousand others of 
the same "kidney," fought and bled and died for liberty. 
(Loud laughter.) 

Fellow soldiers and comrades, you don't know how much 
we of the Feather-bed brigade suffered during the late unpleas- 
antness; but our suffering was for pay-day to come — nothing 
else. We used to suffer terribly when we were forced to discount 
our monthly certified accounts twenty-five per cent, on the dol 
lar. We almost sweat blood when we had to do that; and we 
nearly always had to do it. (Cries of "Served you right.") It 
seemed that it was fore-ordained that a paymaster should nev- 
er come around when we patriotic Feather-bed fellows needed 
him most. (Laughter.) The sutler generally reached us first, 
and my recollection is vivid that he invariably skinned with a 
fearfully sharp knife. (Laughter.) You need not laugh, for 
some of you old soldiers got shaved with the same keen knife, 
and doubtless the scars are on you yet. (Loud applause, and 
cries of "That's so.") 

But what would you soldier boys have done if it had not been 
for us— u us stay-at-homes?" How would you have gotten your 
|13.00 a month of our greenback promises to pay that weren't 
worth over thirty -three cents on the dollar, if we had not re- 
mained at home and run the printing presses to make that 
money for you? (Laughter.) Where would your "hard tack" 
and your beans and your pickled pork and that other kind of 
meat (you know what you always called it). (Loud laughter 
and cries of "sow-belly;") where would all these splendid arti- 
cles of subsistence have come from, if it had not been for the 
loyal and energetic efforts of those stay-at-home patriots that 
I am speaking for to-day? (Applause.) Echo answers where? 
(Laughter.) One of your brave band told me only a few hours 
ago, that although it had been twenty-five years since the war 
closed, yet, in all that time, he had not had the courage to look 
a bean squarely in the face. (Tremendous applause.) And as 
to hard -tack, he told me he had registered a vow to shoot on 
the spot the first fellow that ever had the temerity to offer him 
an army cracker. (Uproarious laughter.) That soldier has 
sense; and I have no doubt that he spoke the inward senti- 
ments of the entire U. S. Army of the three States represented 
here to-day. (Cries of "that's so.") 



92 



Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



Mr. President, I fear I am digressing. Didn't we send our 
sons, our nephews, our uncles, our brothers, and our fathers to 
the front to do the fighting? (Laughter.) And didn't we stay 
at home to care for the women and the children? (Laughter.) 
And wasn't that both gallant and patriotic? (Laughter.) We 
felt for 3^ou when you were out fighting for the flag and the 
Constitution; and I tell you we always felt mighty comfortable 
when we had a whole field full of haystacks between us and the 
enemy. (Loud applause.) Without reflecting upon any of 
these old soldiers, who fought as bravely as any soldiers that 
ever trod the earth, yet I hazzard nothing when I say that 
many of them often prayed for a row of haystacks, or a solid 
stone wall to rise up before them, and remain there for three 
years, or during the war. ( Great applause. ) Of course they 
will not admit it now, but they know it is nevertheless the truth. 
(Cries of that's so.) Even those of us, Mr. President, who 
were fighting in the "Featherbed service" used to lie awake of 
nights when we knew the enemy was within fifty miles of us; 
(Laughter.) and somehow we always knew when they were with- 
in even a thousand miles of us. (Loud laughter.) When our 
stomachs wouldn't digest and our blood wouldn't circulate, we 
always knew something was wrong. We knew the "Johnnies" 
were around. (Applause.) We were all brave men, of course, 
but if my recollection serves me, we were always happiest and 
bravest when the enemy was farthest away. (Loud laugh- 
ter.) 

But, my dear comrades in arms, didn't these "stay-at-homes", 
whom I am trying vigorously and ably to defend, (Laughter) do 
more than send you your greenbacks, your hard-tack, your 
beans and your pickled pork? Certainly we did. (Laughter.) 
We stood behind you, and encouraged you to get South of the 
enemy and push him to the death. (Loud applause.) Didn't 
we write flaming newspaper articles about your bravery, and 
send them to you at the front? Didn't we at all times and 
upon all occasions, furnish a vast amount of noise and a world 
of red fire? (Applause.) Didn't we paint our towns red every 
time you won a great victory? (Laughter.) Didn't our girls 
write love-letters to you and urge you to shoot the life out of 
the Confederacy and smash it into Smithereens? (Great ap- 
plause.) Of course we did. We stood right behind you, but it 
was like Peter following the Master— it was at a very great dis- 



Address at the Tri-State Reunion. 



93 



tance. It was a long ways off. (Applause.) We, however, felt 
it to be our imperative duty, in those critical times, to observe 
more than the ordinary rules of health. (Laughter and ap- 
plause. ) We did not consider it by any means a healthy local- 
ity, when frying-pans, pieces of pots and skillets and railroad 
spikes and things like those filled the air, and when musket- 
balls rained around us like hailstones. (Deafening applause, 
and cries, "We've been there.") 

Mr. President, wheu you consider all these things,— when you 
reflect upon the valiant services we rendered you when you were 
at the front, will you dare say now that we were not patriotic 
then? (Laughter.) Any way, we were patriots of the second 
class, if we did not reach up to the order of the first magnitude; 
and we are here to-day to clasp hands with you. (Applause.) 
We own up that we owe you a debt of gratitude that we can 
never repay; but we are trying to pay it as best we can; and I 
sometimes think we are making a very poor fist of it. 

My friends, just one thought more, and I am done. It is the 
unfaltering love that the masses cherish for the soldiers of the 
Republic. You were not professional soldiers. You were vol- 
unteer soldiers. You followed Grant and Sherman and Sheri- 
dan and Hancock and Hayes and Duval and Kelley and Pow- 
ell, the most of whom were professional soldiers, from Donald- 
son to Vicksburg, and from Yicksburg to Atlanta, and from 
Atlanta towards the North again, and finally to Richmond and 
to Appomatox. You citizen-soldiers cut the greatest rebellion 
of history in two, and gave us one flag instead of two, and gave 
us a united country from ocean to ocean. (Great applause.) 

This is what the citizen soldier did for his country in the hour 
of its greatest peril, and this is why he will be honored and 
loved by all good people from one extreme of the Republic to 
the other. (Applause.) I know of no record anywhere for self- 
sacrifice, for bravery, for superiority to toil, and for devotion 
to the unseen at all comparable with that exercised by these 
citizen-soldiers of America in the war for the Union. (Ap- 
plause.) 

One of Cleopatra's Obelisks, a few years ago, at great cost, 
was removed from Alexandria, in Egypt, to New York City. 
As one looks upon its strange hyeroglyphics he cannot fail to be 
impressed with the thought that this wonderful obelisk— this 
so-called Needle of the great queen— stood for two thousand 



94 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



years as a silent witness to the rise and fall of the Egyptian 
monarchy. It has stood as the Caesars, the Pharaoh's, the 
Ptolmies, the Moslems, the Greeks, and the Romans passed by 
its base, and doubtless paused and looked upon its strange re- 
cords. Those old nations were rich and learned and great, but 
they represented aristocracy and oligarchy, and not liberty. 
(Applause.) They have all gone, while the Obelisk to-day 
stands upon a new Continent and looks down upon a new civili- 
zation. Beneath its shadow we Americans are working out a 
new destiny based upon a new idea; and our soldiers of the late 
war, like this Needle of Cleopatra, are so many sentinels to the 
doctrine of liberty for which they fought, based upon uiversal 
freedom and the equal rights of every citizen beneath our flag. 
(Loud applause.) 

My countrymen, let us resolve to-day that nothing shall take 
from our brave soldiers the records they have made here; and 
that when they surrender their trusts and go forever from us, 
they will wear brighter crowns than man can ever weave them. 
(Continued applause.) 



ALUMNA ADDRESS 

By Governor Geo. W. Atkinson, Ph. D., at Rockville 
Female College, 

Junel, 1897. 

Ladies and Gentlemen: 

This is an age of wonderful activity. It is beyond question, an 
age of "air lines" and "through trains." If we hope or expeetto 
accomplish anything for ourselves and our associates and friends 
we must get aboard the lightning express train. We cannot tar- 
ry. If we hesitate, we may be left. Think of our w r onderful system 
of steam navigation; of our trains of cars running through 
these rock-ribbed hills forty miles an hour; of our telegraph 
wires, which unite all the nations of the earth, and place them 



Alumnae Address. 



95 



within speaking distance with one another; of our telephones, 
by means of which the voices of oar friends are recognized more 
than a thousand miles away. Think, if you please, of all these 
recent grand discoveries in science, which are not only valuable 
in a personal and a business sense, but, better than all, are the 
means of welding the whole world of mankind into a common 
brotherhood. There are two things I believe above everything 
else,— they are the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of 
man. The Constitution and laws of all nations differ. All sys- 
tems of religion are unlike; but underlying them all is the one 
grand, central truth, which all seem to recognize, though we 
cannot tell why, that God is the Father of mankind, and that 
all mankind, somehow, and in some way, are brothers. Grod 
brought every one of us into existence, and we are one in nature, 
one in feeling, one in sympathy, one in our aims in life, one in 
destiny. 

Every nation has its Mecca. Every home circle has its con- 
secrated spot. Indeed, all the world has its sacred places con- 
secrated to the memories of the past. To the old Rock at 
Plymouth, every New England heart will turn with anxious 
longing, from whatever portion of the globe he or she may have 
wandered. The old Hall at Philadelphia, wherein our Nation 
was born, will be forever precious to the American heart, and 
every freeman will feel toward it as the child will feel for its 
earliest home, though he or she may have w T ondered to the ends 
of the earth, and grown gray beneath the burden of the years 
agone. 

So with the home where we first saw the light,— however hum- 
ble it may be, or decayed and wasted it may have grown under 
the wailings of the winds or the peltings of the storms. The 
old college, where we used to go to school, is as dear to us as 
the apples of our eyes. Thus all of us have our ideal spots 
where affections cling as the ivy about the oak; and however 
much we may desire so to do, we cannot shake them off. But we 
do not desire to forget them. To these consecrated places cling 
the hearts of the generations as they pass. It is well that it is 
so. 

These memories and affections recall us from our wan- 
derings, and cause us to feel that we are interested in one 
another's welfare, and have a common interest in building 
up and beautifying the community in which we live, and of 



96 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



which we are an integral parcel and part. These kind of 
attractions are stronger than wealth, stronger than honor, 
stronger than life. We need them, my friends. They are God- 
given, and are shrines around which we bend in dreams and in 
dying. 

Why should we not be joyful to-night? Why should we not 
render thanks to Him who caused our lines to fall in such pleas- 
ant places? But we are happv to-night. Gathered here are 
many who have gone out from these halls of learning, and found 
from experience that life is both real and earnest; and you have 
found out also that, after all, this is a beautiful world, and that 
the educations you received here have aided you greatly in 
making it still more beautiful. What a delightful thought!— 
making the world better, purer, brighter, nobler, grander. 
This is what you are doing, I trust. And you have been think- 
ing, too, I hope. I mean thinking for yourselves— forging your 
own thoughts. If your Alma Mater did no more for you, when 
you were students in it, than to teach you how to do your 
own thinking, it rendered you a service of incalculable worth. 

"Better than gold is a thinking mind, 

That In realms of thought and books can find; 

A treasure surpassing Peruvian ore, 

And live with the great and good of yore. 

The sages love and the poets lay, 

The glories of empires past away — 

Who the world's great scroll can thus unfold, 

Enjoys a pleasure better than gold." 

We are not here to-night, my friends, so much to talk about 
ho w to educate, or how to procure an education, as to speak 
of its merits, — what it has done for men and women everywhere, 
what it has done for the world, what it has done for you. 

First of all, education develops, expands, ennobles, beautifies, 
and fits us all for usefulness. The time was when uneducated 
persons could manage to worry through the world: but that 
time has past I trust forever. An uneducated person, in this 
age of the world, is like a onebladed knife with the rest of the 
blades shut up and rusted over. All must admit that educated 
labor is worth more than uneducated and unskilled labor. 
Why, even mortar is better when mixed with brains. 

"True knight of learning, 
The world holds him dear, 
Love bless him, joy crown him, 
God speed his career." 



Alumnae Address. 



97 



But what has education done for you, my friend? What have 
you been doing, these years, since you left these College halls? 
Have you been driving or drifting — which? Just how much life 
means, words refuse to tell, because they cannot. The very 
door-way of life is hung around with flowery emblems, to indi- 
cate that it is for some purpose. Life may be grand. God in- 
tended it to be glorious, and so paved its course with diamonds, 
fringed its banks Avith flowers and over-arched it with stars; 
while around it he has spread the physical universe — suns, 
moons, worlds, constellations, systems— all that is magnificent 
in motion, sublime in magnitude, and grand in order and obe- 
dience. 

How few there are who appreciate the grandeur of life. To 
float lazily down the stream is to move forward, but unless the 
speed is increased by personal effort, the individual will find 
himself or herself always at the same distance from that which 
he or she is following. How has it been with you? — drifting or 
driving: which? Have you made the most and the best of the 
powers God was pleased to bestow upon you, and have you 
turned to the best possible account every outward advantage 
within your reach? 

"Come, labor on: 
Who dare stand idle on the harvest plain, 
While all around them waves the golden grain, 
And every servant hears the Master eay, 

Go, work to-day? 

"Come, labor on: 
The laborers are few, the field is wide, 
New stations must be filled and blanks supplied; 
From voices distant far, or near at home, 

The call is 'Come.' 

"Come, labor on: 
The enemy is watching night and day, 
To sow the tares, to snatch the seed away: 
While we in sleep our duty have forgot, 

He slumbered not. 

"Come, labor on: 
No time for rest, 'till glows the western sky, 
While the long shadows o'er our pathway lie, 
And a glad sound comes with the setting sun, 

'Servants, well done!' 

"Come, labor on: 
The toil is pleasant, the reward is sure; 
Blessed are those who to the end endure; 
How full their joy, how deep their rest shall be, 

O Lord, with Thee." 



98 Public Addresses, &c, of Got. G. W. Atkixsox. 



Has this education about which we have been speaking, 
taught you to be humble, or has it made you arrogant and 
haughty? Has it made you charitable, and given you a genuine 
sympathy for the weak and the helpless with whom you are 
surrounded on every hand? Has it done this much for you my 
friend? Do you help the poor; make dresses for indigent chil- 
dren; sing sweet songs to them in their loneliness and sorrow; 
give money for their relief; teach them cleanliness, and help to 
educate them generally? They need relief in fact— not in theory. 
Theoretical benefactors and reformers are a curse to the world. 
Some admire fine architecture for church edifices, but refuse to 
give a dollar towards erecting them. Some admire elegant 
preaching, and when the collection basket is passed, with hands 
covered with Alexander Kids, the} T reach down in their wallets, 
through Government coupons, through hundred dollar bills, 
through twenty dollar gold pieces, through negotiable notes 
drawing eight per cent, interest, and with an apparent earnest 
effort to do something great, they fish out one cent and give it to 
the Lord. Women, as a rule, do not do this. They are always 
faithful, always first in deeds of generosity and sympathy and 
love. I have seen grand processions, and have heard the Church 
bells toll the solemn funeral knell; but in many cases that was all 
there was of it. Some one had gone to the grave, yet the world 
had lost nothing. But an active, faithful toiler among the 
poor is always missed. When Josephine died more than ten 
thousand of the helpless poor of France followed her funeral 
corse to the grave, and wept great tears of sorrow because their 
best and truest friend had been called away forever. 

In 1855, when the English soldiers returned from the Crimean 
war, the Queen distributed medals on which were engraved the 
four great battles of Alma, Balaklava, Inkermann, and Sebas- 
tapool. What an occasion w T as that for Brittain, my friends! 
But a brighter day than that still is coming for that greater 
and grander army of noble men and women who, in life's con- 
flict, won the great battle over self, and used their talents and 
their powers for the elevation of their race, when they shall 
some time receive their rewards beside the river of life in yonder 
palace of jasper and gold. 

Knowledge is valuable, but goodness is better. There is no wis- 
dom like wisdom divine. When the seas are roaring, when the 
earth is quaking, and the rocks are rending, there is no time for a 



Oration. 



99 



display of knowledge. You will want God then, my friend. It re- 
mains for you, by your life here, to decide whether you in that 
solemn moment will be secure and safe. This much I am sure 
of, however, a life of trust ing and a life of giving cannot be a 
failure. 

Write it in lines of gold 

Upon thy heart and In thy mind 
The stirring words unfold; 

And in misfortune's dreariest hour, 
Or fortune's prosperous gale, 

It will have a holy charming power, 
There is no such word as fail. 



ORATION 

Delivered by Gov. Geo. W. Atkinson, Ph. D., at Keyser, West 

Virginia. 



July 4, 1897. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: 

Nations like men grow. Some grow fast— others slow. They 
are governed by conditions. If one's blood is clean and 
the circulation free, the subject is healthy and growth is steady 
and sure. So it is with Nations. The Republic of the United 
States was launched, one hundred and twenty-one years ago to- 
day, on the waters of human history by hopeful and ambitious 
builders. Thus far it has successfully plowed its majestic way 
unshaken and unchecked. Rocks and breakers it has often 
struck, but they have only served to make it stronger. It is the 
greatest, grandest craft to-day on all the seas of earth and his- 
tory. Once it was believed to be wrecked and lost and sunk to 
rise no more forever; but when the fever of internecine strife, 
and the smoke of battle cleared away, it was discovered to be 
moving majestically onward, its colors streaming in God's sun- 

LofC. 



100 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



light undimmed, not a bolt wrenched, not a timber shivered, and 
on this, its natal day, after all the shocks of battle, it stands out 
boldly and unmistakably the foremost Nation beneath the 
stars. It leads the van of human progress. In growth and 
greatness it stands unprecedented and unparalled. It is to- 
day, beyond cavil or controversy, the flag-ship of the world. 

Some great man said, I believe it was Patrick Henry, "I hail 
the day as not far distant, when it will be looked upon as the 
proudest exclamation of man, I am an American" In its phys- 
ical conditions its limits and dimensions, its climatology, its 
general natural advantages, and its religious and intellectual 
possibilities, no country on God's foot-stool is at all compara- 
ble with the Government of the United States. I doubt if we 
as Americans have a just apprehension of the ideas, principles 
and facts of life as are revealed to us in American citizenship. 
Men are qualified for ideal citizenship only in so far as they 
comprehend its demands and its responsibilities. He who is 
blind to his Nation's interests is also blind to its wants. He 
who is either, from ignorance or bigotry, unable or unwilling 
to measure the needs of his government and the wants of its 
subjects, is unfit to assume any of its burdens and direct in the 
management of its affairs. 

The true citizen is a representative of the Nation itself in its 
broadest life. Peace has its struggles and triumphs as well as 
war; and to rise to its heights of manly effort requires a broad 
and earnest comprehension. For this reason we are called up- 
on to-day to look at its one American nationality in present 
development and future greatness. To this end we have learn- 
ed an important lesson, I trust, which we should never lose 
sight of, to wit: that each individual citizen, male or female, 
reinforces society, and that organization and unity of purpose 
are essential to the best possible results. As family, society, 
state, nation, church,— all teach us to take our part in each of 
these, without clash or collision, for the good and growth of 
each and all. This, my countrymen, is the supreme lesson of 
the hour. This is the supreme lesson of genuine Americanism. 
This is why we celebrate this day; and this is why we flaunt our 
flags, our bands play the "starspangled banner", our choirs 
sing " America", and our people rejoice and are glad from ocean 
to ocean and from the lakes to the gulf. 

Bear with me, my countrymen, while I attempt to show you, 



Oration. 



101 



in as few words as possible, what we have accomplished as a 
Nation, and advance some reasons why we have reached the 
top rung of the ladder of the mighty Nations of the earth. 

First of all, let us scan the location and character of our na- 
tional domain. But few of our people, I trow, have given even 
a passing thought to this important matter. We look upon 
China, with her four hundred millions of subjects, as not only 
great in the numbers of her people, but great in area as well; 
and yet you may lay China down upon the territory of the Uni- 
ted States, and there will be a fringe around the outside broad 
enough to furnish territory for two or three first-class European 
nationalities. Russia, though vast in domain, is a babe when 
compared to us. Alaska, which we purchased from her, if spread 
out along side of her mother, is almost as large in acreage as the 
mother herself; and yet we count Alaska almost as zero in the 
make-up of our Republic. Germany and France and Spain and 
the Netherlands and England— all rich and prosperous and 
great as first-class powers in the government of the world— still 
they are but garden spots when compared with the territorial 
area of the United States. Place all these great States side by 
side, and lay our single State of Texas on top of them, and you 
couldn't find one of them with a ten thousand lens microscope, 
if you were to search for a thousand years. (Laughter and ap- 
plause.) Texas, which is only one of our forty-four States, has 
265,780 square miles of territory, and is greater in acreage 
than Germany, France, Spain, Italy and England combined. 
Let Texas fall, and she would crush out of sight forever all of 
these boasted first-class Nations of the earth. If Texas alone 
were to sit down on them, Gabriel's trumpet would never resur- 
rect the remains. (Applause.) And yet they talk about big- 
ness and greatness. They are as a mouse compared with an 
elephant if their territorial provinces are left out. (Laughter 
and applause.) If we are ever forced into a scrimmage with any 
of the smaller of them, we wouldn't use canister, — mustard-seed 
shot w r ould be big enough for them. (Laughter.) 

We have seventy-five million population in the United States; 
and if we desire so to do, we can locate all of our people in Tex- 
as, and furnish each citizen a ten acre farm, and will have land 
enough left to give every citizen of Ireland, Scotland and Wales 
a five acre garden spot besides, all on the soil of Texas. This 
is strong talk 3 but it cannot be successfully controverted. We 



102 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. (x. W. Atkinson. 



have profound respect for the Nations of Europe; but in area 
they are too small to talk about on a great occasion like this. 
I have no feeling of hostility towards any foreign Nation. On 
the contrary I have the kindliest feelings for all of them. We 
do not anticipate trouble with any of them but Spain; but to- 
day, while we are sizing up our energies and power as a Nation; 
while we have measured our girth and taken our heft in avoir- 
dupois, naturally "we feel our oats" and our importance as a 
national factor— we could not feel otherwise. It is but natural 
that we should feel like that great leviathan of the West, who 
weighed a ton, smelt like a wolf, and this was his night to howl. 
(Laughter and applause.) We are not courting a "fuss," but 
if any European power should seek to trample on the "Monroe 
Doctrine," and will come at us for redress— one by one — we will 
meet them at Philippi, like Cassius met Brutus. And yet we, as a 
Nation, favor peace instead of war. There is absolutely no 
longer need for war except for the freedom and the elevation of 
the down-trodden and oppressed in the dark places of the 
world. The civilized nations should stand for a Parliament of 
peace. They should print upon their banners in letters of bur- 
nished gold so large that they can be seen across the seas, "No 
more forever shall a sword be drawn, or a musket be leveled in 
a war for greed or gain." Civilization and education and Chris- 
tianity are already demanding this, and, in the fulness of time, 
it will come. (Applause.) The United States leads the proces- 
sion in the march of the Nations for the universal liberation of 
the human race. The watch-cry of the future will be peace, not 
war; education, not ignorance; up liberty, and oppression 
dowm. (Applause.) 

But, my fellow citizens, you will observe that I have thus far 
merely mentioned Alaska as one of our provinces. In speaking 
of the United States, we rarely refer to it as a factor. Though 
it contains a big batch of territory, it is too far away to merit 
more than a passing consideration. When we allude to the Re- 
public of the United States, we regard Kearney City, Nebraska, 
as the geographical centre, with the centre of population at or 
about Indianapolis, in the State of Indiana. But when we take 
into account the 578,204 square miles of Alaska, w r hich, of 
course, is a part of our domain, we are non-plussed in fixing the 
ceutre of our area, as well as the centre of our population. The 
subject is absolutely too big to figure on or talk about. It 
dazes one to compass it. 



Oration. 



103 



If the United States "Cardiff giant" were to lie down to-day 
on the map of modern civilization, his body would extend 
across England, Germany, France, Spain and Italy, his head 
would rest in the lap of Russia, his massive limbs would spread 
over Switzerland and the Netherlands, and his heels would 
touch British India and push Africa off the map; and doubtless 
would frighten Australia so badly that she would "take to the 
woods," like the darkey boy at the Camp Meeting, (Laughter). 
This, my countrymen, is but a faint figure of our territorial 
greatness; and it is not a whit overdrawn. 

In attempting to survey the growth of mankind in physical, 
intellectual, moral and religious development, we find nothing 
comparable with the Republic of the United States. In like 
manner our wealth surpasses all other nations; and it is not the 
mere outgrowth of circumstances which has brought this 
about. The physical and mechanical power which have enabl- 
ed a crude, unlettered people to jump to the forefront in so 
short a space of time, is not circumstantial. It is the outgrowth 
of the strong and active brains of men and women aided by 
machinery of their own invention, applied to the useful arts and 
sciences of every day life. The power that takes nature's raw 
materials and fashions them into finished products for every 
day use, and for the distribution of these necessary articles, 
comforts and luxuries of life, among all classes, of itself pro- 
duces greatness as well as wealth. This is what we have been 
doing as a Nation for a hundred years; and this alone has made 
us great. 

As to the physical, the mechanical and the intellectual forces 
that are the bases of growth of all Nations, we find nothing in 
history to compare with the United States. Our country pos- 
sesses, beyond question, the greatest productive power of any 
government on the earth. As production is wealth, therefore 
the Nation which produces most must of necessity be the weal- 
thiest Nation. Our energy, or productive power, is equal to 
Great Brittain, France and Germany combined. One American, 
by actual statistics, has more energy in productive force than 
two Germans or four Frenchmen, however advanced they may 
be in education, culture and refinement, and however much they 
may have had the start of us in the race between the Nations 
of the world. 

If we were to-day to classify the wealth of our country under 



104 Public Addresses, Sec, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



the two heads of rural or city, we will find that the rural, or 
agricultural wealth has increased fourfold during the past 
forty years, and the city, or urbane, has multiplied sixteen fold. 
The farming interests have had many drawbacks and have not 
advanced as perhaps they should, yet if the United States had 
no urbane population or industries whatever, the advance of 
our agricultural interests, though cramped as they appear to 
be, would be enough to claim the admiration of mankind, for 
they have no parallel in history. (Applause.) 

Complain as we may, my fellow citizens, it is nevertheless a 
fact that an ordinary farm-hand in the United States raises as 
much grain as three men in England, four in France, 5 in Ger- 
many, and 6 in Austria. This difference, however, is chiefly at- 
tributable to the waste of power in Europe, because of the lack 
of such mechanical appliances as are in use in this country. 
When I was a boy twenty -five or thirty years ago, working on 
a farm, we plowed corn with a bull-tongue and a single shovel 
plow; but yesterday as I was coming down to your thriving 
little city, I saw men plowing with cultivators riding in sulkies. 
When I was a boy we harvested wheat with a cradle, and now- 
a-days a man rides on the spring seat of a reaper and does the 
work of a-half dozen men. This is the reason why we surpass 
all other nations in productive energy. China and Japan and 
Africa still cling to the wooden plow. Europe adheres mainly 
to the farm implements of fifty years ago, while our farmers 
ride on spring seats, covered by umbrellas, and the poor horses 
do the work. (Laughter.) 

Pardon me, my fellow-citizens, for advancing some addi- 
tional reasons for our marvelous national development. Free- 
dom towers above all the other causes of our growth. It is 
God's great law that all living creatures shall be free. The 
caged bird longs and cries for the sky's free air. It is nature's 
law to think and act for one's self. It has been thus from Adam 
down to McKinley, and it always will be so. (Applause.) 

Free labor, free thought and free speech, beyond every other 
factor, lie at the bottom of our great prosperity. Everything 
prospers under a free sky. No man is a man unless he owns 
himself. No man can successfully reach out for conquests unless 
his arms are free. I have often felt that water flows freer, and 
grass grows more luxuriantly under a free sky. One thing I am 
sure of, and that is, men grow bigger and greater and stronger 



Oration. 



105 



when their locks are fanned by the air of liberty. (Applause.) 
Every man in our Republic is a freeman, and is privileged to 
do as he pleases, so long as he pleases to do right. Nowhere 
to-day, beneath the shadow of our flag, can there be found the 
foot-print of a slave. Every avenue is open to all alike. In this 
country grit and gumption are the sine qui non of success. In 
this free, intelligent, driving age, if one does not succeed, it is 
his own fault. If he allows another to shove him out of the pro- 
cession, he alone is to blame, and he deserves to go to the rear. 
The unbroken cord of freedom makes all our people one. When 
Gibbon closed his discussion of the reign of Marcus Aurelius, he 
said the second century was the happiest period of the world. 
That century, I grant, was a climax of progress, but it is 
eclipsed by the closing decade of -the nineteenth century, mainly 
because the promised bow of freedom arches every sky. Over 
the relics of slavery in all lands, freemen to-day are building 
stately homes. The legions of almost forgotten monarchs are 
sleeping beneath the tread of freedom's hosts, and on every sep- 
ulcher of history are strewn the ashes from the camp-fires of the 
army of progress. (Applause.) Thank God, in our day and 
generation an Elijah has been completely merged in a John the 
Baptist, and a Moses in an Apostle Paul. Allelujah! the world 
is moving on!! 

I assign, as another great factor in our growth, free educa- 
tion. Crude men are incompetent for self-government. Educa- 
ted men are most easily managed. The day of raw-leather men 
has passed. Greece and Rome had highly educated subjects; 
but education was confined to a few. The masses were ignor- 
ant and uncultured, and the ignorant many finally swallowed 
the educated few; so Greece and Rome went down, and are only 
worthy of note because of the history they made. 

The impartial providence of God is the sternest leveler that 
ever marched in the van of revolution; and that grand provi- 
dence has planted the truth in the minds of all observers, that 
mental energy and intellectual development are the massive 
battering-rams which the Creator intends to use in breaking 
down the wills of men, and bringing them to a submission of 
the teachings and requirements of his will and word. (Ap- 
plause. ) 

The reason that the Greeks in olden times were practically in- 
vincible, was because they were better educated than the bar- 



106 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



barian hordes that surrounded them. The reason that France 
was prostrated by Germany in the Franco-Prussian war, was 
because every German soldier had been a pupil in a public 
school, and carried a Holy Bible in his pocket and could read 
it; while the French, the bravest men on earth, had no public 
school training, and carried nothing but knapsacks and guns. 
An educated man, armed only with a pocket filled with stones, 
is more to be dreaded in battle than an ignoramus with a Gat- 
ling gun. (Laughter.) Teachers and preachers are more pow- 
erful than an uneducated army with banners and sabers. Edu- 
cation has ever ruled ignorance, and always will. The public 
school forces of the United States to-day, could have stood off 
successfully the combined armies of Hannibal and Xerxes and 
Alexander. 

Another reason for our national prosperity may be account- 
ed for in the fact that our people are educated morally and re- 
ligiously as well as intellectually. 

Egypt was the mother of learning. From the summits of her 
monuments and temples, the dust of four hundred centuries look 
down upon the traveler of to-day. That great and intelligent 
race of men that inhabited the valley of the Euphrates has also 
left its impress upon the centuries as an intelligent and cultered 
body of men. Greece, herself, was the acknowledged centre of 
learning in her day, and whose mouldering ruins give to her 
lasting fame. Rome, which sat upon her seven hills, and from 
her throne of beauty ruled the world, next to Greece was the 
most highly cultured of the ancient nations of the East. And 
where are all these empires to-day? Almost faded from the 
map of the world, and are only known for what they have been 
in the past. Why did they shoot like rush-light stars across the 
sky? Why was not their civilization more lasting? I answer, 
because they had no ethical knowledge of their being,— because 
they failed to develop the moral and spiritual natures of their 
subjects. It is, of course, proper to cultivate the intellect, but 
the moral and spiritual natures should also be developed. An 
intellectual man with a dwarfed moral nature, is lopsided and 
dangerous. Education at the expense of morals, will wreck any 
man or Nation on the earth. A nation that educates the minds 
and morals of its subjects properly and proportionately, will 
always prosper and endure; indeed, it ought to live forever. 

The United States, by its public school system and its thous- 



Oration. 



107 



ands of religious organizations, is far in the fore-front of all 
other governments in the general education of its citizens. The 
last census (1890) shows that 87 per cent, of our total popula- 
tion over ten years of age could read and write. I here fear- 
lessly assert that in the history of the human race, no nation 
ever before possessed forty one million instructed citizens. Nor 
are there any other people who write on the average half as 
many letters as our American fellow citizens. We send through 
the mails 110 letters per head of the population per annum, as 
against 74 in Switzerland, 60 in Great Britain and 53 in Ger- 
many. This latter fact speaks well for the strength of family 
attachments, and the business activities of our people. 

A further reason which may be given for the advancement of 
our country, is the separation of the Church and the State. Wick- 
liffe and Luther, under God, made religious intolerance meas- 
urably a thing of the past. Our Government was born as a re- 
sult of this intolerance, and it has prospered because no Church 
or creed could proscribe its people. The religions of Greece and 
Rome were thf warp and woof of those governments, and were 
filtered into the lives of their subjects. The Caesars were all high 
priests. The old kings of past centuries were the spiritual ad- 
visers of their constituents. The Church practically rules 
France, and in England she had, for centuries, her representa- 
tives in the Parliament of the throne. In Germany, Church and 
State have always been blended; but, thank God, in the United 
States of America no man is dominated by any religious sect, 
and is privileged to belong to any Church of his choice, and 
worship Almighty God according to the dictates of his con- 
science. In America, our Pilgrim fathers planted their religious 
edifice upon a broad and enduring foundation. Blessed be the 
land of our Fathers, for it is the only land where political and 
religious freedom are alike assured! 

Still another reason for our marvelous and unprecedented 
progress as a Nation may be accounted for in the superior gen- 
ius of our people. Germany may claim to be the seat of Uni- 
versities and great learning; France, the school of soldiers, and 
England the originator of the improvement of the mechanic 
arts; but the United States masters the world in inventive gen- 
ius. Freedom stimulates genius. No Chaldean astronomer 
ever measured a year or foretold an eclipse. The alphabet was 
invented in the east, but no line of language of profane history 



108 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



was transmitted to us written in that alphabet. The Egyp- 
tians piled up monuments toward the sky, but the free Greeks 
and Romans, under Republican forms of government, were 
alone the architects of temples which have been used as models 
through the centuries. Trace, if you will, the literatures of all 
peoples from the Alexandrian age to the present, and you will 
find that genius withered as liberty declined, and grew with the 
growth of freedom. It has ever been true that genius moves 
pari passu with liberty and free thought. 

To America, therefore, the world owes its greatest blessings 
of discovery. It was Franklin who bottled the lightning, and 
with Edison's perfections of Franklin's thought, the world is 
being ruled in a large degree by electricity. Fulton mastered 
steam; and to-day there are twenty-five million horse-power 
steam engines at work, and the United States, with less than 
one-twentieth of the population of the globe, is using one-third 
of all these engines. Americans perfected the great system of 
railroads which girt the world with bands of steel. On the 
30th of June, 1896, we were operating ITS, 708 miles of track 
in the United States, employing 35,102 locomotives, 1,278,078 
cars, and employing 779,008 laborers at a daily salary of over 
ten millions of dollars. The amount of capital invested in 
these lines of roads was $4,824,075,659, and the net earnings 
for that year were $341,947,475.00. 

Morse discoA^ered telegraphy, Bell invented the telephone; and 
along this line no man can tell what Edison has not done. But 
this is not all. Nearly all of the labor-saving inventions now 
in use everywhere, are the result of American genius. We are a 
nation of inventors, without a rival on the globe. (Loud ap- 
plause. ) 

Again, I remark, that we may attribute a portion of our 
amazing prosperity to the fertility of our soil, the variety of 
our climate, and our vast mineral resources. We can grow not 
only everything we can eat, but we can and do manufacture al- 
most everything we need for our comfort and support. Our 
country, rock-bound and washed by oceans and seas, and wa- 
tered by innumerable lakes and rivers, with scenery unsur- 
passed, with a salubrious climate, and an industrious, enter- 
prising population, well skilled in the mechanic arts— such a 
country can never want for the necessaries and luxuries of life. 
With such advantages as these, labor is bound to be rewarded. 



Oration. 



109 



Since 1860, the economic value of our labor has increased 
seventy per cent. Its increase alone is more than the entire 
contents of the National Banks of the United States. We have 
the best fed and best paid labor of any other Nation on the 
earth. In 1873 the net deposits in the National Banks of the 
United States were $673,400.00; in 1896 they were $2,019,- 
300.00. In 1873 this country exported cotton goods to the 
value of $2,917,528.00. In 1896 the exports of cottons, in 
quantity, had multiplied more than four fold, and their value 
had increased to $14,340,886.00. In 1873 the country pro- 
duced 264,314,148 gallons of crude petroleum, and in 1896 its 
production had increased to 2,033,331,972 gallons. In 1873 
the total production of cane sugar in this country was 610,- 
832,493 pounds, in 1896 it was 934,825,618 pounds. In 1873 
our wool product was 158,000,000 pounds; in 1896 it was 
298,057,384 pounds. In 1874 we manufactured 2,401,202 
tons of pig-iron; in 1896 we made 7,124,502 tons. Our output 
of coal and lumber is likewise enormous, and we are only in the 
infancy of what we are yet to be. 

The census of 1890 showed that the United States had 4,565,- 
000 farmers, the aggregate value of their farms and equipments 
summed up fifteen thousand nine hundred and eighty -two 
millions of dollars. The number of new farms created since 
1860 has been 2,520,000, bringing into cultivation 195,000,- 
000 acres of land. The average value of our farm lands has in- 
creased from $29 per acre in 1850 to $37 per acre in 1890. The 
average value of dwelling houses in the United States per inhab- 
itant, is $12.00, while in Great Britain, it is only $5.50. The 
average accumulation per head in the United States, is $41.00, 
and in Great Britain it is but $24.00 per capita. 

There can be no question, my fellow citizens, that the United 
States at this time, possesses by far the greatest productive 
power of any other Nation in the world; that this power has 
more than trebled since 1860, and that the accumulative wealth 
of our entire country averages $7,000,000 a day. These facts 
tell us of the vastness of our resources, and the fertility of our 
soil. 

I regret, my friends, that time will not allow me to carry these 
investigations further. 

In conclusion, let us to-day, my countrymen, thank the 
fathers and mothers of the Bepublic for the success which has 



110 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



attended the Government they bequeathed to us. Let us thank 
that patriotic band that gave us freedom from the mother 
country. Let us thank the soldiers under Lincoln and Grant 
who preserved our Constitution and our flag. All honor, too, 
to the noble, patriotic women of the Republic. Napoleon once 
said that what France needed most was mothers. Thank God 
we have the noblest mothers in the United States that can be 
found beneath the stars. And above all, and beyond all, let us 
not forget the day we celebrate, and never cease to love the 
land that gave us birth. 

Darkness is closing over the land of Solon and Lycurgus. 
The hills that echoed the eloquence of Pericles are almost un- 
known to men. The groves in which Socrates and Plato pre- 
pared their philosophy have all been razed to the earth. The 
grand cities, temples and obelisks of antiquity, which were in- 
tended to immortalize their builders have nearly all crumbled 
into dust; but this grand, great, glorious free government of 
our fathers, grows brighter and stronger with the roll of the 
years. [Applause.] 

Let us, my countrymen, as we here stand beneath the shadow 
of our beloved "Stripes and Stars", pledge ourselves anew, not 
like the youthful Hannibal when led to the altar of his country 
by his father, swearing eternal hatred to his enemies; but let us 
here swear, by the help of Almighty God, that we will rear to 
the memories of the heroes of the past, this fabric of State, un- 
til its towering monument shall catch the first rays of the ris- 
ing, and the last rays of the setting sun. [Prolouged Ap- 
plause] . 



IS THIS A CHRISTIAN NATION? 

Governor Atkinson's Opinion Thereon. 

(From "M. E. Times," Parkersburg, W. Ya„ Oct. 2, 1897.) 

I answer, yes, and no. Tt is a Christian Nation in fact, but 
not in law, except in a qualified sense. Neither in the Article of 
Compact, the Declaration of Independence, nor the Constitution, 



Is this a Christian Nation? 



Ill 



is there a provision or requirement that makes the United 
States distinctively a Christian government. 

The Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independ- 
ence and the Constitution all recognize God, and command all 
to honor and adore Him as the supreme fatherhood of man, 
but no where is there a distinctive command to recognize or 
worship Jesus Christ as the Savior and Redeemer of man. That 
w r e are a Christian Nation is everywhere implied, but no where 
is it commanded or in any sense made mandatory. We are 
therefore a Christian Nation in fact, but not in law, except in a 
qualified sense, as I have stated. 

The laws of Congress imply Christian Government. They not 
only recognize God, but teach a belief in Christianity as well; 
and yet no where is it in any law made compulsory upon any 
citizen to accept Christianity as the religion of our government. 
The Supreme Court of the United States, however, has decided 
that the Christian religion is the foundation stone of our repub- 
lic, and should be recognized as such. 

November 11, 1620, the "May Flower" colonists planted the 
first seeds of Christian faith on this continent. Their covenant 
begins in these words: "In the name of God, Amen; * * * * 
having undertaken for the glory of God and the advancement 
of Christian faith * * * * we do by these presents in the 
presence of God and one another combine ourselves together 
into a civil body politic, etc." This may be called our first 
written Constitution, and upon it was based our Declaration of 
Independence and our present Constitution. 

Under our existing Constitution the utmost liberty is given 
to every individual citizen, and yet each one must yield so much 
of his liberty as will give life and efficiency to the nearest and 
least community of which he is a member. This smaller com- 
munity joins with others to make a larger; and that a yet lar- 
ger, until the series ends in a nation which embraces the whole. 
This is the spirit of our national compact; and this implies the 
greatest liberty of conscience in everything that embraces re- 
ligious convictions and the methods of religious worship. It 
was intended, and is now accepted, that every man may wor- 
ship God according to the dictates of his conscience, and in his 
own particular way, and no borough, county, or State can pre- 
vent him from so doing. While we are therefore Christians in 
all that goes to make up a Christian government, there is no 



112 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



law to prevent a man from being a pagan if he elects to be one. 

The first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence rec- 
ognizes God; and yet the first article of the Constitution pro- 
vides that Congress shall make no law respecting an establish- 
ment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; and in 
the sixth article it is provided that no religious tests shall ever 
be required for office. These are the only provisions in the Fed- 
eral Constitution upon this subject. 

It should be observed, however, that these clauses apply only 
to laws of the United States. They place no restraint whatever 
on the action of the States, and make no provision for protect- 
ing the citizens of the respective States in their religious liber- 
ties, against the laws of the States. The several States, there- 
fore, are at liberty to enact such laws as they may see fit regard- 
ing religious matters. 

The Constitution of some of the States did not fully respond 
to this entire freedom of religion. Religious tests, to a certain 
extent, were maintained in the Constitutions of New Hampshire, 
Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Tennessee. Mississippi 
and North Carolina. In this last State, by the Constitution of 
1776, no person denying the divine authority of the Old and 
New Testaments, or the truth of the Protestant religion, could 
hold a civil office; but by the Constitution of 1835, the word 
"Christian" was substituted for the word "Protestant." But 
in all these, as well as in the other States, in point of practice, 
the utmost religious freedom may be said tu prevail. The prac- 
tical law T of the country may now be stated in the words of the 
contract of concession, made by William Penn in 1676, with or 
to the planters of the province of West New Jersey. These 
words are: "No man on earth has power or authority to rule 
over man's conscience in religious matters; and no person shall 
be called in question, or punished or hurt in person, estate, or 
privilege, for the sake of his opinion, judgment, or worship, in 
the concernment of religion." 

In the ordinances of Congress of 1787, for the government 
of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio 
river, it was declared to be a fundamental and unalterable princi- 
ple in the compact between the original States, and the people 
and States in that territory, that no person demeaning himself 
in a peaceable and orderly manner, should ever be molested on 
account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments. And 



The Nashville Exposition. 



113 



this may be regarded as, a,t this day, the practical law of the 
United States. 

Notwithstanding all that I have said, I cannot refrain from 
believing that this is a Christian Nation. Our people not only 
believe in God, but they believe also in the divinity of Jesus 
Christ. Why, then, are we not a Christian country? 

For a number of years a movement has been agitated to 
remedy, by Constitutional amendments, the non-recognition 
in that instrument of the existence and government of 
God. Its advocates deny all attempts at a union of Church 
and State, profess entirely un sectarian principles, and aim 
at the preservation of those religious elements of our na- 
tional life — so largely assailed— namely, the Sabbath, Christian 
marriage, days of fasting and thanksgiving, the Bible in public 
schools, and Chaplains in Congress and public institutions gen- 
erally. The arguments in its favor are: 1. That government 
is a divine institution; 2. Eeligion is the soul of our unwritten 
constitution pervading all our institutions, and should there- 
fore have a place in our written code. 3. The United States is 
not pagan, Mohammedan nor infidel, but a Christian Nation; 4. 
Neutrality on this point is impossible; and, 5. The present con- 
dition of the Nation necessitates an amendment of this kind. 

All of these arguments, to my mind, are clear and strong, 
and worthy the attention of a Christ-loving and Christ- wor- 
shipping people. 



THE NASHVILLE EXPOSITION. 

Address of Governor G. W. Atkinson, at the Nashville Exposi- 
tion, on West Virginia Day. 

October 20;i897. 

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:— 

West Virginia greets her sister State of Tennessee to-day, and 
congratulates her over this splendid exhibit of her own and 
other Southern States' resources. In the name of the people of 



114 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Ct. W. Atkinson. 



my State, I thank you for the generous and hospitable recep- 
tion you have given us on "West Virginia Day." We came 
down here to greet you and to cheer you on the splendid work 
you are doing. These staff officers of mine, these commission- 
ers, and these West Virginians, who are standing all about me 
to-day, are only a fair sample of my people; and I take it that 
these noble Tennesseeans will admit, with their noted Southern 
frankness and generosity, that in good looks and stately bear- 
ing, you cannot easily duplicate them. (Laughter.) 

My friends, you have a great State down here in Tennessee. 
I know considerable about your State, because I have been in 
almost every county of it. For years I have regarded it as the 
Empire State of the South. In area, in climate, in location, in 
beauty of scenery, in healthfulness, in coal, and in timber re- 
sources, T doubt if any State in the Union can rival it, except 
one— West Virginia. In area alone you surpass us. If you on- 
ly knew it as well as we ourselves know it, you would frankly 
admit that West Virginia can beat the world in coal and oil 
and gas and timber. We are the eternal centre of all these com- 
modities. We are not boastful. We only speak the truth. (Ap- 
plause.) 

But, my fellow-countrymen, we are not here to depreciate the 
great State of Tennessee. On the contrary, we are here to extol 
her. This Exposition is proof positive that she is both enter- 
prising and great. I doubt if this Exposition has been equalled 
— certainly not surpassed — by a>ny like undertaking in this coun- 
try, except by the Columbus Centennial at Chicago, and that 
was a National and not a State demonstration. In this great 
Exposition, you have acquitted yourselves with everlasting- 
credit and honors; and all the people who come here will frankly 
acknowledge it. 

The South has always been the most productive portion of 
the Republic. Its great natural resources — its coal, its iron, its 
timber, its cotton, its tobacco, its sugar, its rice, and its fruits 
cannot be equalled in the States of the North. We of the South, 
for generations, have furnished the larger part of the necessarj^ 
raw materials for our brethren in the North to manufacture into 
finished products. This made them rich, while we kept on being 
poor. These latter years, we have started out to work up our 
own raw materials upon our own soil, thus giving employment 
to our own people and keeping our money at home. Under this 



The Nashville Exposition. 



115 



common-sense policy, the South is growing rich, and under it 
she will keep on developing. Tennessee, one of these years — 
and not in the far distant future, either — will be one of the lead- 
ing manufacturing States of the Union. 

West Virginia, my fellow-citizens, is here to-day to wish Ten- 
nessee God-speed in all her undertakings. Tennessee has all, or 
nearly all, the raw materials that the world needs in its busi- 
ness. All you have to do down here is to go on developing it. 
Go on, my friends, in your wise policy of working these materi- 
als into finished fabrics, and there can be no question as to 
your future. 

But, Mr. Chairman, this is West Virginia day on these mag- 
nificent Exposition grounds. We are here to inform you that 
we have a great State just North and East of you, and that we 
are opening it up at a mighty rate. We are in the business of 
doing something ourselves. We aren't by any means lying 
supinely on our backs up yonder in our West Virginia hills. We 
are digging coal at a mighty rate. The familiar clicks of the 
miners' picks are daily heard in many of our mountain sides as 
they bring forth the dusky diamonds which bring millions of 
dollars within our borders every year. The hum of our mill- 
saws lulls our mountaineers to sleep, and awakes them from 
their slumbers at the dawning of the morn. The derricks in our 
oil fields are almost as thick as the warts on the heads of your 
Tennessee frogs. We are pumping oil in sufficient quantities 
every day out of our West Virginia hills, to grease all the axles 
on the earth, and have enough left to lubricate the North Pole, 
and the hinges of every politician's jaw from Maine to Califor- 
nia, and our people aren't "Greasers" like those we find in Mex- 
ico, either. Moreover, we have most everything else up there, 
including the best people beneath the stars, Tennesseeans alone 
excepted. (Applause.) 

My friends, this Exposition will prove itself to be of inestima- 
ble value to Tennessee and to the entire South. These exhibits 
show a variety and a vastness of resources which hitherto were 
not generally known to the world at large. For generations 
you have been producing a very considerable portion of raw 
cotton for all the Nations. While you have not dropped back 
any in your production of cotton, you are branching out in 
other industries which will likewise prove profitable. Nothing 
develops a State or a Country so rapidly as the diversification 



110 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



of its industries, I am glad to know that the South is taking 
a hand in most every sort of business. All hail, Tennessee, and 
Alabama, and Georgia, and West Virginia, and all the States of 
the Southland! Hold your eyes steadily to the front; keep 
abreast of the times as you are now doing, and your greatness 
and your wealth will some day shine forth like the splendor of 
the sun. (Loud applause.) 

The South, like all other sections of any and all countries, 
has its ideas and its peculiarities and its idiosyncrasies; but 
withal, the civilized world can boast of no better, nobler, truer, 
braver people than the inhabitants of our Southland. Lovers 
of liberty and freedom in all things, you have never been un- 
mindful of others, and have given your friendly aid to all 
classes and all sections to better their conditions, and thus 
make our entire country broader, and nobler, and richer, and 
grander. You have been an irresistible force, during all the 
years of our National life, in the development and upbuilding 
of the Nation, and your impress upon the Republic has been 
powerful and potent from the days of Washington down toMc- 
Kinley. The South is a mighty country, and her people are a 
mighty people. As a Virginian myself. I can greet you as one 
who loves you, and shares your feelings and your thoughts. I 
can say in all candor that you are loyal to your country, her 
Constitution and her flag, and that in your heart of hearts, 
your influence shall be forever and unfailing for liberty and jus- 
tice and for peace among men. (Prolonged applause.) 

Again I say, West Virginia greets you, and thanks you, and 
honors you to-day. (Loud cheering.) 



THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION. 

State of West Virginia, 

Executive Chamber. 
Charleston, Oct. 30, 1897. 
With an abiding trust in the goodness and mercy of Almighty 
God and in conformity with an established custom to make 
public recognition of this acknowledgment, I designate Thurs- 
day, the 25th day of November next, to be set apart as a day 



Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1897. 



117 



of thanksgiving and prayer for the great privileges which we 
enjoy. I hereby call upon all our people to abstain, as far as 
possible, from business of every character and kind, on that 
day, and that they meet in public places of worship in order 
that prayer and thanksgiving may be offered to Almighty God 
for the privileges and blessings we now enjoy. 

G. W. Atkinson, 
By the Governor, Governor. 
Wm. M. 0. Dawson, 

Secretary of State. 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 

Governor Atkinson's Address of Welcome to Epworth League 

Workers. 

November 17, 1897. 



(From the "Central Methodist," Catlettnburg, Ky., Nov. 27, 1897.) 

Several articles already in type are displaced this week, to 
make room for Governor Atkinson's admirable address of wel- 
come to the Epworth League Conference at Charleston. This 
paper is historical, exegetical, instructive, and closes with an 
earnest exhortation, which we hope all Leaguers will heed care- 
fully. Corning from the Governor of a great State, it is a paper 
to be prized, and the Central Methodist congratulates both 
itself and its readers on being able to secure so valuable a de- 
liverance for the exclusive use of its readers. 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 

[Address of Welcome by Governor G. W. Atkinson, delivered at Dickin- 
son Methodist Episcopal Church, South, November 17, 1897, at Charleston, 
West Virginia, to the Westeru Virginia Conference Epworth League As- 
sociation.] 

Ladies and Gentlemen: 

It is with more than ordinary pleasure that I welcome you to 
the city of Charleston, the Capital of your State. I am sure all 
ourpeople heartily join with me in welcoming such a body of 



118 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



Christian workers as the Epworth Leaguers of our State. We 
are more than glad to have you visit us, and I trust your stay 
in our midst will be both pleasant and profitable to you and to 
us. I extend to you a warm a.nd hearty welcome to our city 
and our homes. I assure you also, that our people are in hear- 
ty sympathy with the cause that brings you together. Go on, 
my young friends, in the noble work in which you are engaged. 
God will abundantly bless you, and the prayers of all good 
people will be with you. 

God moves through the ages by epochs and eras. The last 
quarter of the century which is now grandly rolling out, has be- 
come epochal by the organization of young people's societies 
for aggressive, Christian activity. In the providence of God, 
the time was ripe for this tremendous event in Church history. 

The growth of young people's societies has been really pheno- 
menal, as witnessed by the following figures: There are about 
4,500,000 members of the young people's societies of our 
evangelical Churches. They are scattered as follows: Christian 
Endeavor, 2,162,000; Epworth League, Methodist Episcopal 
Church, 1,500,000; Epworth League, Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South, to which you belong, 150,000; Baptist Young 
People's Union, 400,000; Young People's Christian Union of 
the United Brethren, 75,000; Luther League, 60,000: and some 
others, as the Brotherhood of Saint Andrew and the Westmins- 
ter League, whose membership is not so great as those I have 
given. 

Most of these persons are between the ages of fifteen and 
thirty years. The entire population of the country between 
those ages is, in round numbers, 18,000,000. That is to say, 
one-fourth of our population, from fifteen to thirty years of 
age, belongs to positively aggressive young people's societies 
of the orthodox Churches, to say nothing of the young Cathol- 
ics and other young people in the land who live for high and 
noble purposes. This is independent of similar young people's 
organizations in the Old World. 

The purpose of the Epworth League is "to promote intelli- 
gent and loyal piety in the young members and friends of the 
Church, to aid them in religious development, and to train 
them in the works of mercy and help. Leagues have been 
formed in every State and territory in the United States. The 
Chapters numbered on the eighth anniversary of the organiza- 



Address of Welcome to the Epworth League. 119 



tion of the League, 17,500 with 5,600 Juniors, making a total 
membership roll of 1,600,000. By clasping hands, this vast 
army of organized workers would form an unbroken line, from 
Cleveland to Florida Keys, with enough left out to make a city 
as large as Cleveland at each end of the line, and two way- 
station cities each containing about one fourth as many peo- 
ple as are within the limits of West Virginia to-day. Such an 
organization properly directed will be a mighty factor in reform- 
ing the world. When the Crusaders were on their way to Jeru- 
salem to rescue the Sacred Tomb from the Turks, their watch- 
cry was: "It is the will of God." To-day, as this mighty 
League throng is marching on, to rescue the world from sin and 
unrighteousness, their watch-cry is that of the Crusaders: "It 
is the will of God." [Applause]. 

And what marvelous headway you are making iu this great 
undertaking! A few years ago, I stood out yonder at the Gol- 
den Gate beside the sighing sea. Not knowing the hour, and 
standing but a few moments, I could not tell whether the tide 
was coming in or going out. Standing a little while longer, I 
observed the surging waves coming rolling in, until they would 
strike the beach, break asunder, and recede again, foaming, 
seething, w T hite-capped, back to their home in the mighty deep. 
Standing a little while longer, I found that each successive 
wave, which struck the beach, climbed higher and still higher 
upon the sands along the shore. Then I knew that the tide of 
the mighty, great, grand, majestic, broad, blue Pacific Ocean 
w r as coming in and was not going out. So, standing here to- 
day upon this vantage ground of truth, and looking out over 
our great country, the freest and the best beneath the stars, I 
say with emphasis, and with a faith that cannot be shaken, that 
the great tide of public sentiment, with reference to the ultimate 
regeneration of the world, is coming in, and is not going out; 
and in this great consummation the Epworth League is taking 
a mighty part. (Applause.) 

My fellow citizens, I am sorry to Bay there are those who cen- 
soriously condemn these auxiliary Church organizations; who 
claim that they are harmful instead of helpful to the Church. 
In such conclusion they are wrong, — foreverjwrong. Old people 
can be conservative, but young people must be enthusiastic; 
and if they are disposed to ally themselves together in independ- 
ent Church work, they ought to be allowed to do it, and should 



120 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



be encouraged rather than hindered in their laudable undertak- 
ings. 

These multitudes of .young people are not designing to thrust 
the venerable or middle aged classes aside from the places they 
have so long occupied in the work of the Church, but to re-en- 
force them in every good word and work. They are to carry 
the counsels of that wisdom which is begotten of experience into 
practice, "Old men for counsel, young men for war." We have 
had counsels and councils, and must continue to have them, 
but the war is now on, and is going to remain on, and these 
young men and women are in the battle's brunt. The Church, 
through its councils, has already reached its conclusions with 
reference to the Christ and the gospel that He founded. The 
young people of His army are now ready to stop debating the 
question as to who Christ is, and as to what the Bible is, and 
as to what the gospel is, and proceed to press their claims for 
the undivided allegiance of all the people. This, my friends, is 
the beginning of the Church's home-stretch for the millennium. 
(Cheers.) 

The methods of these young people's socities are manifold. 
I will briefly note a few: 

1. They propose to produce a generation of Church members 
who, instead of having one out ten that is actively religious, 
as is the case now, all shall be thorough, consecrated, and effi- 
cient workers for the Master, and anointed with Pentecostal 
power. This is the work of the Devotional Department. 

2. They propose to become the world's leaders of thought. 
While others give themselves up to frivolous amusements, they 
devote their leisure to the mastery of courses of study, to liter- 
ary culture, and practice in the art of putting things. . They lis- 
ten to lectures, debate great questions, think great thoughts, 
act noble parts, and in life's great drama, they play the role of 
"being somebody." Such young men and women are not to be 
ciphers, but digits — every one standing for something, if stand- 
ing alone. (Applause.) 

3. They propose also to follow the great Head of the Church 
in His plan of reaching the multitudes by helping them. The 
success of the Christ in reaching the masses, unquestionably lay 
in His Divinely unselfish sincerity. LaCordaire, the great 
French preacher, says: "Love is the immolation of self upon 
the altar of its object. Whosoever has not thus been immola- 



Address of Welcome to the Epwoeth League. 121 



ted. has never loved.' ' Convince people that you love them, 
and you can lead them. Convince people that you can and do 
sympathize with them in all of their besetments in life, and you 
can draw them to you and lift them to higher heights of intelli- 
gence, usefulness, morals and religion. Sympathy gave Shakes- 
peare his marvelous power over men. Sympathy and love are 
the unseen powers that will ultimately regenerate the world. 
(Cheers.) 

My friends, my countrymen, I tell you to-day, the young peo- 
ple of Methodism are going to give the Christ's sympathy and 
love to the world anew by reincarnating the Spirit of Christ, so 
that their hands will be used for Him to show His love, as of 
old, by self-sacrifice and sympathetic devotion. Likewise their 
feet, their voices, their time, their money, their prayers and 
their tears. Prayers and tears are mightily reinforced when 
they follow manifestly honest self-sacrifices. This, my friends, 
is the work of the Mercy and Help Department of your League. 

4. Notwithstanding the seriousness of their high calling, they, 
nevertheless, are going to reform society, so called, by showing 
the world that supreme enjoyment, that the most intense reali- 
zation of what the world is so ardently and at such great ex- 
pense of time and money, but so fruitlessly seeking in dangerous 
and demoralizing pastimes, can only be experienced by the 
pure in heart. (Loud applause.) 

They will show the world how to have a ; "good time' 7 without 
compromise of character and morals. Nay, they will prove to 
the world that they only laugh well whose merry hearts have 
in them no foundation-stones for a temple of remorse. They 
will have their amusements. Their pleasures will be so manifest 
that it will become the fad to be righteous for the sake of the 
satisfaction of righteousness. Then "good society" will be the 
society of the good. (Applause.) It is the mission of the De- 
partment of Entertainment to bring all this about, and in the 
fullness of time it will come. 

There can be no question as to who is to win in this society 
race. At any time we can safely put the intelligence and char- 
acter of these Christian young people, who lead clean lives and 
improve themselves mentally and morally, against the reckless 
and dissipating crowds that aim at nothing but nonsense and 
hit nothing but filth. (Loud cheering.) 

5. They will use printer's ink, personal correspondence, and 



122 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



in every possible way compel the masses to think about Christ 
and the tremendous verities of immortality. This is the work 
of the Department of Correspondence. 

6. Then they are to introduce the rein of the systematic 
giver. The next generation of Methodists are going to conse- 
crate faithfully, and I believe hilariously, one-tenth of their in- 
come to the work of the Church. How the churches will flourish 
then! The missionary treasury and all other treasuries will be 
full, and the Gospel of the Christ will be preached in all lands. 
(Applause). 

The century that is dawning will bring greater blessings, as 
well as greater responsibilities, to all mankind. Gibbon in his 
peerless history of the Roman Empire tells us that the reign of 
Marcus Aurelius in the second century was the golden age of 
the world. The golden age, my friends, is the time that is com- 
ing, and I trust not far distant, when men shall love, instead of 
hate, and when all classes shall worship God and love their 
neighbors as themseves; when all shall stand by their con- 
sciences, their ministers, their churches; when all shall board 
the old ship Zion, as she plows the seas, bearing upon her prow- 
ess the noble and glorious message to all the men and women 
of all the earth: "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace 
and good- will to men." (Loud cheers:) 

Yes, my friends, the young people of this land are going to 
be good citizens. They propose to prepare themselves for tak- 
ing a controlling part in politics. By combining to form a 
balance of power, they can dictate the course of events requir- 
ing the office to seek the man; securing needed reforms, and 
relegating corrupt tricksters and scheming manipulators to the 
limbo of musty history where such classes of right ought to be 
entombed out of sight forever. (Cheers.) 

The great need of our country to-day, my fellow citizens, is un- 
selfish patriotism — a kind that will create a rival in the direc- 
tion I have indicated, by being on hand at the primaries, and 
then do its shouting at the ballot-box. The great gatherings 
of Epworth Leaguers like the International Meeting at Toronto 
last July of all the Epworth Leagues of the Continent; the 
Christian Endeavorers at San Francisco which met but a week 
or two before, and other like organizations, will ultimately re- 
sult in the federation of Christendom for tremendous results 
not only upon individuals, but upon society and the Nation. 



Panegyric at the Grave of 0. S. Long. 



128 



My young Mends, if it were in place for me to do so at this 
time, I would exhort you most earnestly upon three particular 
propositions, viz: 

1. To urge all of you to be sincerely religious. 

2. I would urge all of you to be intelligent Methodists, and 

3. I would insist upon you to work together for great results. 

But as my time is limited, I simply throw them to you as sug- 
gestions. I repeat, my brethren, that you are engaged in a 
great work. Let nothing deter you from doing your whole 
duty. 

Oh! who would not a champion be 

In this the lordlier chivalry? 

Uprouse ye now, brave brother band, 

With honest heart and working hand. 

You are but few, toil-tried but true, 

And hearts beat high to dare and do; 

Oh! there be those who ache to see 

The day-dawn of your victory. 

Work brother, work with hand and brain! 

You'll win the golden age again; 

And love's millennial morn shall rise 

In happy hearts and blessed eyes. 

We will, we will brave champions be 

In this, the lordlier chivalry. 

Again I welcome you to Charleston on behalf of this Church, 
and our people as a whole. (Prolonged applause.) 



PANEGYRIC 

By Governor G. W. Atkinson, at the Grave of the Hon. 0. S. 
Long, (A Distinguished Freemason), 



Dec. 19, 1897. 



My Friends and Brothers: 

"And I sit and think when the sunset's gold 
Is flushing river and hill and shore, 
I shall one day stand by the water cold, 
And list for the sound of the boatman's oar; 



124 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



I shall watch for a gleam of the flapping sail. 
I shall hear the boat as it gains the strand, 
I shall pass from sight with the boatman pale, 
To the better shore of the spirit land. 
I shall know* the loved who have gone before, 
And joyfully sweet will the meeting be, 
When over the river, the peaceful river. 
The An£rel of Death shall carry me." 

Most Worshipful Brother 0. S. Long is no more. As a light- 
ning stroke from out a cloudless sky, death's herald came. His 
lamp, which flickered but a few days, went peacefully out, only 
a day or so before the bells tolled the death of the old and the 
birth of the new year, 1898. His illness was of short duration, 
and before but few of his friends knew that he was even indis- 
posed, he was dead. 

M. W. Brother Long was in no respect an ordinary man. He 
was classically educated; was thoroughgoing in all of his under- 
takings; was honorable, upright, manly, and was a gentle as a 
woman. It was the fortune of but few to know the simplicity, 
beauty and tenderness of his private life, and those thus fortun- 
ate were the better of that knowledge. The conqueror of the 
high principled Brutus perfectly described our deceased brother, 
when he said; "His life was gentle, and the elements so mixed 
in him that all the world might say, this was a man."' 

M. W. Brother Long was born in Westmoreland county, 
Pennsylvania, October 16, 1836, and was therefore in his sixty- 
second year. He was the second son of Rev. Warner Long, for 
more than half a century an active and prominent member of 
the Pittsburgh Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
and was himself a member of that communion in earlier life, but 
subsequently connected himself with the Episcopal Church, and 
died in its communion as a Vestryman. Brother Long was 
educated at Allegheny College, Meadviile, Pa., then, as now, a 
well known educational institution. He graduated high up in 
the class of 1856. He then became a school teacher, following 
that calling for several years. In the meantime, he studied law 
at Beaver, Pa., and was admitted to the bar in 1862, but never- 
practiced, inclination calling him into editorial work on news- 
papers. 

In February, 1864, Brother Long moved to Wheeling. West 
Virginia, and became editor of the Register, which had just been 
started by Lewis Baker. His work on that paper was marked 
by ability, brilliancy and thoroughness. In 1866 he was ap- 



Panegyric at the Grave of 0. S. Long. 



125 



pointed postmaster of Wheeling- by President Johnson, and 
served six months, relinquishing the office because the Republi- 
can Senate refused to confirm the appointment. In 1867 
Brother Long engaged in life insurance in Wheeling, and in 
1870 resumed editorial charge of the Register. He remained on 
the paper until 1874, when he was appointed Clerk of the West 
Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, a position he held and ably 
filled to the time of his death. 

Brother Long was widely known and esteemed by many in 
West Virginia and throughout the country, through his con- 
nection with Freemasonry, having held the highest and most 
important offices in each of the Grand Bodies in West Virginia. 
He was for fourteen years Secretary of the Grand Lodge, and 
he compiled the text-book which has for more than ten years 
been in use in the Masonic Lodges of the State. Later he com- 
piled a manual of Masonic law for the government of the Frat- 
ernity in West Virginia. He was also an active member of the 
Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United 
States of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. 

Brothei' Long was made a Mason in Cumberland Lodge No. 
134, at Cumberland, Ohio, in 1857; was exalted a Royal Arch 
Mason at Cambridge, Ohio, in June, 1858; was made a Royal 
and Select Master at Brownsville, Pennsylvania, in 1859; was 
created a Knight Templar in Wheeling Commandery No. 1, at 
Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1865; was made a Master of the 
Royal Secret (32d degree) A. and A. S. R. at Lynchburg, Vir- 
ginia, in 1868; was coronated Honorable Inspector General of 
the Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Lnited 
States, at Washington, D. C, May 30, 1876, and on the same 
day was crowned an active member of that body, and served, 
until the time of his death, as an Inspector General for West 
Virginia: was elected Lieutenant Grand Commander of that 
body October 21, 1895, and at his death, had served as an ac- 
tive member thereof, faithfully ahd efficiently for 21 years, 6 
months, and 26 days. As stated above, he filled ably and well 
all of the offices of Grand Master, Grand Secretary, Grand High 
Priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter, Grand Secretary of 
the same, and Eminent Grand Commander of Knights Templar 
of the State. I doubt if any Mason in all the land can show a 
more complete record. It is needless for me to say that Brother 
Long filled practically all of the offices in his subordinate Lodges, 



126 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



M. W. Brother Long was easily the first in attainments of all 
the brethren of our jurisdiction. He was a student of Freema- 
sonry, and knew more of its symbolic teachings than most of the 
learned leaders of the Fraternity throughout the world. He 
was not a Ritualist, but he was a Masonic Jurist of wonderful 
attainments. He was learned in our laws and our history, and as 
such, like Boaz of old, was a pillar of strength in our midst. 
When one of his attainments passes from the throng of the liv- 
ing, he is entitled to something more than a mere handful of 
earth, which it was believed when cast upon the lifeless form of 
an ancient Roman, gave the wandering spirit the power to suc- 
cessfully cross the gloomy river to the brighter fields beyond. 

The ancient Greeks, whose religion was so deeply imbued with 
the poetic sentiment that their immortal epic may be viewed, 
not only as a poem, but as a theology, accompanied their pic- 
tures of death with two symbols of very different import. 
The butterfly and the inverted torch, which were adopted as 
significant accompaniments of that god who was called the 
fatherless child of Night — and the twin brother of Sleep— convey 
to the mind apparently conflicting lessons. 

The inverted torch, as a symbol of death, reminds us of hopes 
that have been blighted, of plans left incomplete, of aspirations 
that have been extinguished, of labors suddenly abandoned, of 
joys that have ceased to warm, and griefs that no longer chill 
the heart. But the butterfly, springing out of the sluggish and 
insensible chrysalis into a form of beauty and ceaseless activity, 
bids us look with certain hope to that change of existence when 
the mortal shall become immortal, when what is corruptible 
shall be changed into incorruption, and when other fields of 
thought and action shall be presented to the new born and 
thenceforth eternal energies of the soul\ 

The Freemasons, who have borrowed their religious dogmas 
from a later dispensation, can still adopt these ancient symbols 
and give to them a consoling interpretation. We know that 
the temple of this life is a building, fragile in structure, tempo- 
rary in duration. Its foundations have been laid in sand, and 
storms will overthrow it, and floods carry it away. But w T e 
know, too, that other temple Avhich is the true object of a Ma- 
son's labor, that sanctuary of the pure heart, that holy house of 
the soul, is a mansion which knows no decay, but is as eternal 
as the stars. 



Panegyric at the Grave of 0. S. Long. 



127 



We are taught in our rituals, that it is through the gate of 
death that we are to find an entrance to that place of wages, 
refreshment and rest. For the Supreme Master of the Universe, 
before whom we all bow in adoration, and whose all-seeing eye 
marked our labors in the Lodge below, promises to spread be- 
fore us in the stupendous Lodge above, all the joys and glories 
of an eternal Sabbath moru. 

While we could not and would not borrow the stoicism of the 
Scythians, and rejoice and be cheerful and happy standing 
around the silent bier of our deceased brother, we should feel 
that death is the twin brother of sleep, and from that sleep of 
death there is an awakening to eternal life, and that what is 
our loss is his great and everlasting gain. 

That stern postmortem tribunal, held in the ancient Egyptian 
"Court of Death," before whom the remains of the deceased 
were brought, who were made to abide the sentence that should 
be passed upon their lives, from which there was no appeal; 
whether, in accordance with that verdict, they were to be em- 
balmed with costly myrrhs and laid to rest with imposing cere- 
monies, in magnificent tombs, or "cast forth from tomb and 
temple to lie naked and dishonored on the sands until the earth 
consumed their remains," or, borne by the turbid waters of the 
Nile, to the depths of the deep-sounding sea, there to be con- 
sumed. The witnesses in this stern court knew that, should they 
unjustly denounce the dead, they were purjured beyond the 
power of redemption of Isis or Osiris. "They spoke no lies to 
the dead, nor of the dead to the living." 

In preparing this eulogy we should speak as a witness before 
that awful tribunal, and having known our brother for a gener- 
ation would dare affirm, that, had he been subjected to such an 
ordeal, his sarcophagus of finished design, sculptured by skilled 
workmen, with the beautiful symbol of the Craft he loved so 
well, its symbol of death, surmounted by that of immortality, 
would have been his meet and willing award, his form and fig- 
ure would have been embalmed with that "mysterious love 
which is at once concealed and preserved in imperishable char- 
acters among the winged symbols upon the stones of Thebes 
and Karne; and, his cartouche would be covered within the 
crypts and secret recesses of mam^ a Masonic Temple, as evi- 
dence of his work and worth." 

These tokens of respect are empty, but they are all that we 



128 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkixsox. 



can offer to the living whom our brother dearest loved. Our 
dead brother was a manly man. He had couruge, and as a Ma- 
son, true and tried, he worshipped at the shrine of truth. He 
was true to God, to friends and loved ones; and no one can say 
that he ever raised hand or voice against anyone whose pur- 
pose was to do right, to be honest and be just. He was modest 
even to a fault, and never sought to raise himself by pulling 
others down. His noble spirit was molded out of the relig- 
ion he professed, and he grew bigger himself by lifting others up. 
His life was the antipodes of arrogance. He found no fault with 
those who differed from him in religion, or on politics, or on 
matters pertaining to the welfare of the Craft. Conservative in 
his make up, he stood as a wall of partition between extremists, 
and poured oil upon the waters when they were disturbed by 
those whose dispositions are opposed to peace. A Mason for a 
generation, he lived to see the sun of Fraternity rise, gild the 
hills of every land with its rays of peace, and thrust its glories 
into the darkened corners of the globe, teaching to one and all 
the doctrine immortal of the fatherhood of God and the broth- 
erhood of man. 

The heart of every West Virginia Mason throbbed with sor- 
row when the word went forth that Brother Long was dead. He 
was a shining mark for the relentless reaper's shaft. He was 
the type of man that makes the world better, and he was the 
mold of man for whom the people mourn when death claimed 
him for his own. Faults he had, but his virtues overshadowed 
them to an extent that they were but a few thorns forever con- 
cealed beneath a wilderness of flowers. Better than most men 
he pursued the path of duty, and the trail he blazed, most men 
can safely aud successful^ follow. His was an unselfish life, 
imbued with true Masonic spirit. Calm anci undemonstrative 
in demeanor, his heart beat warm for suffering humanity, and 
he was ever ready to do all he could to help a brother with ad- 
vice, through the exercise of his far-reaching influence, or with 
his money as well. But he made no stir about it. 

To his enemies, if he had any, he showed knightly courtesy 
and magnanimity. He had too much good sense to be affronted 
at insults, and was too well employed to remember injuries. 
He was patient and philosophical in suffering, submitting to 
death with Christian fortitude. Peace to his ashes. Rest to 
his soul. 



Business Progress, Etc., of West Virginia. 



129 



In the City of Sleep on the hill 

Falls the sunbeams, the shadows and showers, 
Comes never a vision of ill, 

And the years glide away like the hours; 
For the sleeper recks not of the strife, 

The sorrows and heartaches that fill 
To o'erflowing- the goblet of life, 

In the City of Sleep on the hill. 



BUSINESS PROGRESS, 

Prospects and Resources of West Virginia, By Hon. G. W. At- 
kinson, D. C. L., Governor of West Virginia. 



January 1st, 1898. 



(From the Age of Steel.) 

As per your request, I furnish your readers with a brief arti- 
cle on the "Business Prospects and Resources of West Vir- 
ginia." 

I can assure } T ou that our business outlook is encouraging. 
Merchants all over the State inform me that their sales are rap- 
idly increasing, and collections are much easier than for 
two or three years past. Railroad traffic has of late greatly 
increased within our borders. Our coal operators tell me that 
they could sell double the amount of coal they are now mining, 
if the railroads could haul it to market. Our iron, steel, pot- 
tery, glass and fire clay industries are doing a fairly good busi- 
ness, and their output has largely increased during the past 
three or four months. Lumber and cattle command a much 
better price than formerly, and the demand is increasing every 
week. All this is gratifying to our people generally, and is do- 
ing much to restore confidence, and establish courage for the 
future. 

While we have in West Virginia several good sized steel plants, 
glasshouses, potteries and tile and fire brick works, yet our 
main industries are coal, oil, gas and timber. 

West Virginia embraces in the neigborhood of 17,000 square 



130 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



miles of the great Appalachian coal field of the continent. We 
have, we think, an inexhaustible supply of steam, coking, gas, 
splint and cannel coals. The aggregate of the various seams of 
these bituminous coals is eighty-nine feet above the water level, 
to say nothing of the veins beneath water level, that some day 
will be reached by shafts. When we consider the fact that the 
coal and coke development in West Virginia does not yet cover 
a score of years, we think we have made marvelous progress. 
Please bear in mind that we are now the third coal and the sec- 
ond coke producing State in the Union; and these industries 
are yet practically in their infancy with us. Several large tracts 
of lands have recently been purchased by capitalists from other 
States, and inside another twelve months, a score or more of 
new coal mines will be in operation. It is a fact worthy of note, 
that a majority of our coal operators are men who have, for 
years, been engaged in the coal business in Pennsylvania, the 
largest coal producing State in the Union. They have two good 
reasons for coming to West Virginia, viz: our coals can be 
mined cheaper, and the water transportation to the South and 
West is far more reliable, and at the same time the distance is 
not so great as from the Pennsylvania field. An experienced 
coal operator can fully appreciate these two important factors 
in carrying forward an extensive business. 

Our coal output has increased from 8,000,000 tons in 1893 
to 13,500,000 tons the present year. Our coke production has 
grown even more rapidly. The output this year will not fall 
far below 1,600,000 tons. The large coal and coke operations 
in West Virginia are confined to fewer than a dozen of the fifty- 
five counties in the State. The leading county is Fayette, on the 
Great Kanawha and New Rivers; the second is McDowell, in the 
Pocahontas coal basin, and the third is Marion, on the Monon- 
gahela river. The other eight or ten counties fall considerably 
below those named; but they are making steady progress in 
their outputs. Inside of five years, mines will be in operation 
in as many more counties, which have the same seams of coal 
now used in the counties which have already been developed. 
It will not be long before we will leave Illinois behind us, and 
ten years, if I am not greatly mistaken — and I think I am not 
— will place us alongside of the old "Keystone State" in the 
production of both coal and coke. 

Our next great industry is carbon oil. It is believed by 



Business Progress, Etc., of West Virginia. 



131 



oil experts that West Virginia is underlaid with a sea 
of petroleum. The total output of oil in the State for the cal- 
endar year of 1897, will be over 18,000,000 barrels of white 
sand oil. This does does not take into account the black, or 
limestone lubricating oil, of which we produce a large amount 
each 3 T ear. 

We have eight oil producing sands in our State, viz: Dunkard, 
Cow Run, Big Injun, Salt, Gantz, Gordon, Fifth and Sixth 
Sands. These sands vary in thickness from 30 to 200 feet and 
are found at a depth of from 300 to 3300 feet. The Big Injun 
and Gordon sands produce most of the oil. 

The daily production of oil from these eight several sands is 
about 50,000 barrels. The daily production of petroleum from 
white sands in the United States is about 120,000 barrels. 
Therefore, it may be seen that West Virginia is producing near- 
ly one-half of the best quality and highest-priced carbon oils, 
and from which is produced better kerosene and more of its by- 
products than any other grades of oils in the world. 

Eight counties in West Virginia are furnishing about nine- 
tenths of the oil produced in West Virginia. These counties are: 
Monongalia, Marion, Wetzel, Tyler, Doddridge, Harrison, 
Wood and Ritchie. The balance of this product comes from 
Wirt, Lewis, Calhoun and Roane Counties. These last named 
counties are being rapidly developed, and will, no doubt, very 
soon be producing as much oil as the counties that have al- 
ready been fully tested. 

The oil belt in West Virginia begins at the southeast corner 
of Greene County, Pa., touching the northwest portion of Mo- 
nongalia County, West Virginia, and extending across the en- 
tire State of West Virginia, and terminating in the eastern por- 
tion of Kentucky. All of this southern portion of what we be- 
lieve to be an unmistakable and unerring oil belt has not been 
fully developed, and is therefore unknown. 

Since 1890, up to the present time, there has been a continu- 
ous drilling of oil wells in our State, of from 75 to 150 every 
day. As soon as one well is completed, another begins, and 
work goes on, night and day. The new T wells, as a matter of 
course, in new production are in excess of the decline of the wells 
already in operation. That is to say, as the old wells decline, 
the new wells more than make up the decline, and thus add to 
the continuous production, 



132 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



The number of wells completed, which have been paying- pro- 
ducers, and are still producing, run up into the thousands. The 
average life of these wells has not yet been determined; but as 
the oil-bearing sands in the State are unusually porous, it may 
be possible for each producing well to drain a large area of terri- 
tory, and time alone can determine the possible life of these wells. 

The Standard Oil Company has invested millions of dollars 
in our State in the construction of pipe lines, storage tanks and 
other facilities necessary to take care of this wonderful produc- 
tion. The fact that the Standard Oil Company, which controls 
the production and price of the petroleum oil output of the 
world, is proof that West Virginia is the oil center of the earth, 
or they would not give us the attention they are now doing. 

West Virginia is now producing more high grade petroleum 
than any other State in the Union; and will, in the future, nec- 
essarily increase, instead of decrease her production of this nec- 
essary article that all the world needs and must have for the 
wants and comforts of mankind. 

I have not thus far alluded to gas. West Virginia is now pro- 
ducing practically all the gas used by Pittsburg and all the 
manufacturing sections bordering on our State. Gas is already 
established as an economic and desirable fuel, and it lias come 
to stay. West Virginia is the eternal center of this cheap and 
desirable fuel, and our Pennsylvania neighbors have come 
across "the line," and are using that which a beueficent Provi- 
dence gave to us, and refused so lavishly to give to them. 

It is estimated that we have in this State 9,000,000 acres of 
original forests. There are, in some of the interior counties, 
immense primeval forests that are strangers to the woodsman's 
ax, or the saw of the lumberman. It is not uncommon to see 
poplars from three to eight feet in diameter and sixty feet to 
the first limb. Oaks are not so large, but many of them meas- 
ure five feet across the stump. Walnut trees are often found 
three and four feet in diameter. The timber is larger and of 
better quality in the river and larger creek valleys than along 
the slopes and elevated plateaus. We have in our State every 
variety of timber indigenous to this latitude. Lumber camps 
follow the railroads, and as new lines of roads are projected, 
the lumber industry of the State proportionally increases. It 
is vast now in its propertions, but it is only in the dawn of 
what it is yet to^be. 



Soi5TH AND W EST CONGRESS. 



133 



SPEECH 

of Governor G. W. Atkinson, of West Virginia, at the Session 
of the South and West Congress, at Tampa, Florida. 



February 9, 1898. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:— 

I was informed last fall at Nashville, during that successful 
Exposition of Southern wealth and Southern enterprise, that 
more than two million additional spindles had been started in the 
South during- the preceding twelve months. This, to me, was 
extremely gratifying information. I am glad that the people 
of our Southland have, in dead earnest, gone into the business 
of twisting something. A people that twist are a people 
that thrive. A man must twist everything he can get his 
hands on, in order to rise above the average of his fellow man; 
and this is true of a community as well. We of the South are 
behind our Northern neighbors mainly because, for generations, 
"we toiled not, neither did we spin." All hail, my brethren! 
We have thrown off that lethargy and are on the high-tide of in- 
dustrial, physical and intellectual development. In the active 
business shuffle of to-day, we are taking a mighty hand. The 
spirit of true enterprise has fully come upon us, and I am firmly 
persuaded that it has come to stay. (Applause.) 

It can not be successfully controverted, Mr. Chairman, that 
we have within the Southern States the necessary elements to 
cause several, if not all of them, to become manufacturing cen- 
tres. We have natural advantages unequaled, and certainly 
not surpassed, by any other portion of the great Republic; and 
I am delighted over the fact that our own people are now en- 
gaged in the laudable undertaking of w r orking up our own raw 
materials into finished products, upon our own soil by our own 
skilled labor. This, my countrymen, is an unerring road to 
success. Thanks to ourselves, we are succeeding now. Indeed, 
we have already succeeded, and we are only in the daw n of what 
we are yet to be. 

With harbors unsurpassed, ships should be loading every hour 



134 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



in these ports, carrying our products across the high seas to o ther 
lands less favored than our own. With our practically inexhaust- 
ible forests of timber, we can furnish boards enough to fence in 
the Universe and have a supply left sufficient to lay a board 
walk to the snow-bound regions of the Klondyke. With our 
coals in most of these States, we can heat the earth hotter than 
the Hebrew "fiery furnace" of Shadrach, Meshach and Abedne- 
go, and have surplus enough to furnish steam for all the ships 
on all the seas. With our natural gas we can, if it were concen- 
trated, make Pluto ashamed of his boasted dominion, and cause 
him to flee to the far-famed mountains of West Virginia in 
search of the cool, balmy breezes which alone can be found in 
that charming Switzerland of America. With our crude petro- 
leum we can, if we want, grease every axle and cog and wheel 
and pinion in this and all lands, and at the same time oil the 
hinges of every stump-orator's jaw from Florida Keys to the 
North Pole, and have enough left over, when properly refined 
to light up all the dark places of terra firma like a spectacular 
aurora borealis. With our cotton and our tobacco and our 
rice and our sugar and our semi-tropical fruits, what may we 
not expect, when every strong,, broad-shouldered Southern 
man has his back against the wagon and is pushing all he can? 
(Loud applause.) 

But, Mr. Chairman, what of the West? And I am glad that 
that once great wilderness, which is now blossoming as the 
rose, is strongly represented here to-day. The possibilities of 
that wonderful stretch of our National domain can scarcely be 
estimated. Two or three of those massive prairie States alone 
can produce a sufficiency of wheat and corn every year to feed 
the American people, independently of that vast proportion of 
these products which passes through the worms of distilleries 
and down the throats of the multitudes of the "tire- water" 
suckers of the land. What we need, for a large part of our 
Western products, is a foreign market; and what better points 
for loading it on sailing vessels and ocean steamers can be 
found than these along the Gulf coast? The W r est, like the old 
valley of the Nile to the ancients, is the granary of the Conti- 
nent, and why should these products be shipped East and 
North instead of Southward? We are here to-day to bid for a 
portion of the shipping of the Western and Middle States, and 
for the big end of all the products of every State south of the 



South and West Congress. 



135 



Ohio. When we look upon these magnificent harbors, extend- 
ing from Norfolk and Newport News down the Atlantic coast, 
and all along the Gulf of Mexico, we wonder that we have not 
hitherto secured practically all of the shipping of the South and 
the West. It is enough for us to know, however, that thus far 
we have only received but a small portion of this traffic, and 
we are here to-day, in this ''Business Congress," to find out 
why it is, and to ascertain if it is not possible to get on the 
right track for the future. It seems to me, my friends, that our 
trade with Central and South America should, in the near fu- 
ture, be very much greater than it now is; and all this traffic 
must of necessity pass through the ports along the Gulf. The 
Ohio and Mississippi rivers furnish a cheap water-way for heavy 
freights to the sea, and across this Gulf should be passing to- 
day the surplus cereals from the Central and Western States. 
(Applause.) 

I find, Mr. President, that New York and New England con- 
duct about eight-tenths of our export trade, and the major 
part of the articles they are shipping— these articles of com- 
merce are from the West and the South. We are, consequently, 
furnishing our neighbors of that portion of the Republic a large 
part of the capital upon which they carry on their business. 
We are, therefore, the hewers of wood and the drawers of water 
and they alone get the increase. I cannot understand, my fel- 
low citizens, why the rural products which roll into St. Louis 
and Cincinnati and Omaha and Chicago, as the trading points 
for the vast farming sections that surround them, go to New 
York and New England for foreign shipment, instead of down 
the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to the Gulf, or by rail across the 
mountains to tide-water on the East. The only explanation 1 
can think of, is the answer given by the young son of a butcher 
who had just entered school. W nen asked by his teacher how 
much ten pounds of beef would come to at six cents per pound, 
his reply was instantaneous: "It won'tcome to nuthen, because 
you can't git no such article at no such price." (Laughter.) 
They cannot afford to do it, and yet they are doing this very 
thing. 

The laps of the South and the W T estlie together exactly as the 
laps of the North and the East are one. It is bad judgment 
and bad business sense for us to empty our laps into theirs, un- 
less they empty something into ours in return. The North and 



136 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



the East depend mainly upon manufacturing and shipping, 
while the West and the South furnish the bulk of the raw mat- 
erials with which they are kept constantly employed. We have 
pursued this policy already too long for our own prosperity 
and success. Common sense teaches the folly of such conduct. 
Nature intended manufacturing to be done where the raw mat- 
erials are located. The people are often slow in taking hold of 
what Nature intended them to do; but sooner or later "they 
catch on," and then wonder at the folly of their neglect, I say 
boldly in this presence to-day, my countrymen, God Almighty 
intended the South and West to be the manufacturing work- 
shop of this, the greatest Nation beneath the stars; and sooner 
or later furnaces and factories will be a pillar of cloud by day 
and a pillar of fire by night, and the roll of machinery will 
gladdeu the sections that are strangers to them now. (Load 
applause. ) 

American history has been a lesson as well as an inspiration 
to me. New England made the New South possible, just as 
Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and Persia made Greece and Rome 
possible. The North and the East have the lakes, the grit and 
the money; the two extremes of the Nation each has an ocean; 
and the Middle and the Southern States have the great rivers 
which flow southward to the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi 
basin is the heart of the Continent and the granary of the Na- 
tion, and it will some day be the most populous portion of the 
Republic; and its shipping will be all, or measurably all, across 
this great Gulf. 

The wealth of our country, Mr. Chairman, is already becom- 
ing collossal; but as it has only been the reward of industry 
and enterprise, it cannot demoralize its possessors. The field 
of gain is so vast and varied that the mass of our common cit- 
izens have shared its abundance. Our prosperity is not acci- 
dental. It is not merely a phaze of the remarkable development 
of a remarkable age. On the contrary, it is simply the out- 
growth of the enterprise, genius and pluck of our people. The 
Yankee is a "snapper," and he rarely, if ever, fails "to get in his 
work." We of the South move slower, but we move with steady 
step. The people of the North have conferred unnumbered 
benefits upon the Nation, as well as received them. They have 
strongly influenced American development as well as were them- 
selves influenced by it. This was not done by begetting an- 



South and West Congress. 



tagonisms, but by laying a broader base for the Nation they 
were attempting to build up. They liberalized the whole coun- 
try by their broad, progressive ideas, tendencies and sympa- 
thies. The one, therefore, who is abusive of the people of the 
North, is narrow, bigoted, prejudiced. I trust that I am broad 
enough to be just to the people of all sections. My fellow citi- 
zens, I declare to you to-day, that I am neither for Paul nor 
Appollos nor for Cephas, but I am for my country, now and for 
ever, one and inseperable. (Prolonged applause.) 

The latest statistics in the Department of Agriculture, fur- 
nished to me by the Secretary of that bureau, under date of the 
second of the present month, show T the annual production, in 
the Republic, of two billion bushels of corn, five hundred and 
thirty million bushels of wheat, over seven hundered million 
bushels of oats, seventy million bushels of barley, twenty-five 
million bushels of rye, fifteen million bushels of buckwheat, one 
hundred and seventy-five million pounds of rice, eight hundred 
million pounds of sugar, two hundred and seventy-five million 
pounds of wool, upwards of four hundred million pounds of to- 
bacco, about eight and a half million bales of cotton, fifteen 
million horses, three million mules, forty million cattle, forty- 
three million hogs, forty million sheep, sixty million tons of 
hay, and over seven million dollars worth of oranges; and 
who will undertake to say that the bulk of these vast products 
does not come from the Western, the Southern and the Middle 
States? Lop off Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and 
you will find the coal bed of thet Coninent buried beneath South- 
ern soil. In the two Virginias, Kentucky, Tennessee, Maryland 
and Alabama, the coal acreage is greatly in excess of the four 
Middle coal States w T hieh I have mentioned. They are nearer to a 
large part of the West and all of the South-west than the coal 
fields of the Middle or Central States, and are nearer to tide- 
water on the East and South also. When the Nicaraugua Ca- 
nal is completed, we can sweep the Pacific coast, because all 
heavy freights must come Southward over the great water- 
ways of the Continent. These ports will be busy then. The 
iron centre of the Union will ultimately be within the Southern 
States. We have, in many places, coal and iron and limestone 
in the same hill-sides. When competition screws the prices down 
so that the margins of manufacture will be counted by cents in- 
stead of by dimes and dollars, the struggle will be on. It will 



138 Public Addresses, &o\, of Gfov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



then be "the survival of the fittest"; and I have studied political 
economy in vain, if those sections do not "win out'' where the 
raw materials abound. 

My friends, please do not misunderstand me. Nothing suc- 
ceeds without great effort. The South and the West must avail 
themselves of every opportunity. The upward trend of busi- 
ness, as in the life of every individual, is full of struggle and en- 
deavor. Men frequently fall of their own weight. So do great 
business adventures. When men cease to struggle, they invari- 
ably go down. This is the reason why the bottom in the 
learned professions is always crowded, and why there is invari- 
ably room at the top. The men at the top are covered over 
with scars, because they have fought their way there, and they 
necessarily bear the marks of their honorable and long con- 
tinued conquest. This has been true of all individuals from 
Adam down to McKhlley, and it is true of communities and 
Nations as well. 

"Let the road be rough and dreary, 

And its end far out of night. 
Foot it bravely, strong or weary, 

Trust in God and do the right." 

Pardon me, Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, in conclu- 
sion, for a special word for my own native State of West Vir- 
ginia. We think we have the richest and the best located State 
in the Union. Our eastern border is within fifty miles of the 
National Capital. We are eighteen hours from New York and 
St. Louis and Chicago, twelve hours from Cleveland, Columbus, 
Cincinnati, Baltimore, Pittsburg and Richmond. We have a 
salubrious climate, charming scenery, low-taxes, cheap, fertile 
lands, good schools, well executed laws, and a happy, contented 
population. W r e have more coal, oil, gas and timber than any 
other State. We produced fourteen million tons of coal, one 
million six hundred thousand tons of coke, nineteen million 
barrels of carbon oil, and gas enough to blow up the Gulf of 
Mexico— all in the year of our Lord 1897. I extend to all of 
these delegates, and to all of the good people of this Ponce de 
Leon "land of flowers," a cordial invitation to come to West 
Virginia, cast your lots with us, and we will guarantee to all of 
you health, happiness, peace and prosperity. I thank you for 
your attention. (Prolonged applause.) 



Lynching s. 



139 



LYNCHINGS IN WEST VIRGINIA. 

Governor Atkinson's Reply to the Attorney General relative to 
the Lynching of a Colored man in Mercer County, 
Feb'y 3, 1898, by a Mob of White Men. 



Charleston, March 7,1898. 

Hon. Edgar P. Rucker, 
Attorney General. 

Dear Sir: — I own receipt of your letter of this day, and beg to 
say in reply that I fully concur with your views relative to 
lynchings and to discriminations on account of race or color in 
prosecutions for crime. Nothing is so ruinous to the reputation 
of a State as lynchings. There is no need of them. They are 
wrong in principle, and should not be tolerated. I promise you 
rny earnest efforts to aid you in prosecuting the men who re- 
cently took the law into their own hands at Bramwell. They 
should be vigorously prosecuted and severely punished. I 
commend your zeal in seeing that our law against crimes of this 
character is vigorously enforced. If you desire it, I will offer a 
reward for the apprehension and conviction of the lynchers. 

The murder of a colored woman by one Truman, a white man, 
is appalling. If the facts are as represented — and I cannot 
doubt their correctness— no pains should be spared by the coun- 
ty and State authorities to bring him to a speedy trial. It 
amazes me to learn that a brutal murder, such as you detail 
to me, should take place in one of the counties of our State, and 
yet no effort be made to arrest the murderer. If you desire it, 
I will also offer a reward for the arrest and conviction of Tru- 
man. West Virginia is a free country and is inhabited by free 
people. If a white man kills a negro, he should be prosecuted. 
In the enforcement of the laws of the State, I shall recognize 
neither condition nor race. 

Your most obedient servant, 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of West Virginia, 



140 Public Addresses, &c, op Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



"WEST VIRGINIA." 

A Toast by Governor George W. Atkinson, Delivered at the 
Stonewall Jackson Camp Banquet — Another Splendid 
Tribute to the Resources of the Mountain State. 
The Governor Becomes Humorous. 



March 14, 1898. 



(From Charleston DaWy Gazette.) 

The following address was delivered Saturday night by Gov- 
ernor George W. Atkinson, at the banquet given by Stonewall 
Jackson Camp, Confederate Veterans, of this city: 

Mr. Toastmasteb and Gentlemen : — 

I am glad to meet these distinguished Ohioans here to-night. 
Ohio is a great State, and her people are not only good people, 
but they are a great people. Artemus Ward once said, "Some 
people are born great, and some are born in Ohio.'' He was 
right. ( Laughter. ) 

Ohio never fails to take a vigorous hand in pretty much every- 
thing that arises. That great State leads out in most every 
important undertaking. She has furnished nearly all the candi- 
dates for President of the United States ever since I have had 
a remembrance of politics — and that has been a long time. The 
first man I ever voted for for the office of President was born 
in Ohio (General U. S. Grant); and I have been keeping up the 
custom practically ever since. I have got used to it, and I ex- 
pect to keep on doing it. All you have to do "across the river" 
is to "name your man." and I will "bob up serenely" at the 
polls. But, don't misunderstand me — I am finding no fault 
with my Ohio brethren for that. I admire a State that never 
fails "to get in its work." I greet our Ohio neighbors, and I 
commend them for leading out in the laudable work of securing 
a closer fellowship between the "boys who wore the blue and the 
boys who wore the grey." In this friendly work, my Mends, 
you are making no mistake. (Applause.) 

But my friends, we would have you, of Ohio, bear in mind 



West Virginia. 



141 



that we have, on this side of the Ohio, a great big State of our 
own; and we are getting bigger and richer mighty fast. We are 
head over heels in the swim of progress. We are doing lots of 
work ourselves, and we are doing it "hammer and tongs," "hip 
and thigh," "hoof and horns," "head and heels." Do .you 
know, my brothers, that West Virginia does not owe a dollar 
of debt, and has $1,270,281.92 of a cash balance in her treas- 
ury? Do you know that West Virginia produced 20,000,000 
barrels of petroleum, 14,000,000 tons of coal, and 1,600,000 
tons of coke— all in the year of our Lord, 1897? And no man 
above the sod knows how many trees we cut and how many 
boards we sawed in that year, for they are like King Solomon's 
shekels— too numerous to count. We have in our State more 
than 9,000,000 acres of absolutely virgin forests. I almost 
forgot to gently remind you, my Buckeye friends, that we dis- 
tanced ( )hio last year in the production of coal, and thus took 
third place, instead of fourth in the handling of the dusky dia- 
monds that groan beneath our hills. But I don't desire to pun- 
ish you by flaunting in your faces this flotilla of facts, while you 
are our guests on this delightful occasion. I love Ohio, and I 
cordially invite all of her good people to come to West Virginia 
and dwell among us, and we will do our level best to make you 
prosperous and happy. (Loud cheering.) 

Pardon me, my friends, for a few thoughts on the mission 
that brought you here. It seems to me that we are just begin- 
ning to appreciate the true grandeur of a united country. We 
have freedom and we have peace. We have learned to respect 
honest, faithful toil, Labor is wealth, and man needs no better 
passport to fame than that he earns his living by the sweat of 
his brow. The late civil war made labor free, and free thought 
and free labor have done more than all things else to elevate 
mankind. They have chained the lightning, conquered steam, 
bridled machinery, broken down caste, and uplifted man. They 
have treed out the brain, whetted the intellect, and broadened 
the outlook of all our people. They have made ours the fore- 
most nation of the world. While we did not understand it at 
the time, yet it is true that the late civil war rolled aw r ay the 
stone from the door of the sepulchre of progress. China, for 
centuries, had her gates locked against human progress, and it 
was left for the scarcely more than half civilized dominion of 
Japan to break down these barriers and let in the light which 



142 Public Addresses. &c. 3 of (tow G. W. Atkinson. 



China had sworn should never shine above her people. The 
world is moving forward. As the old century is grandly rolling 
out, a newer and a nobler one is rising above the Eastern hills; 
and I am rejoiced to know that it promises the glad tidings of 
peace on earth and good will to men. I have, my friends, but 
"one sentiment for the soldiers living and dead — cheers for the 
living and tears for the dead." 

I am glad the wounds of our civil war have all been healed. 
There are no better loyalists to-day than the late soldiers of 
the Southland. ''The blue and the grey" are to-day clasping 
hands across the deep, dark chasm that once divided them, 
which at one time we felt could never be arched; but it has been 
arched by the radiant bow of fraternity and love and enduring 
peace. 

"The war is over and Father Time 
Has cleared the strife away — 

Ami scattered golden sunbeams 
Where once dark shadows lay. 

The heroes sleep: oh, let them rest! 
Don't take their fame away. 

For glory marks each sacred spot- 
Where sleep the Blue and Gray. 

"Each fought for what he deemed was right, 

Each heart was brave and true. 
And honor marks the path they trod 

Alike the Gray the Blue. 
And angels hover o'er the scenes 

Where these brave heroes lay. 
And we decorate the graves of all. 

Whether they wore the Blue or Gray." 

I was touched most tenderly a few years ago by an incident 
that was said to have occurred at Indianapolis on Decoration 
day. A plain but neatly clad little girl brought with her a bas- 
ket of flowers. She sought out the only Conferate grave in the 
cemetery, and literally buried it beneath the flowers. Some 
hard-hearted man said to her. "Why do you do that? Don't 
you know that is a rebel grave?' 5 "Yes." she promptly replied. 
"I know that: but my papa is buried at Chattanooga, and I 
know his little girl will to-day strew flowers on my papa's 
grave, and I am going to cover her papa's grave with these 
flowers." My countrymen, this little occurrence tells the whole 
story. We should forget which side we were on during the dark 
days of that conflict, when we are called to place flowers upon 
the graves of our dead. I believe I speak for all West Virgin. 



The When, The Where, The Why. 143 



ians when I say, peace to the ashes of both "the blue and the 
gray." 

The Governor was vigorously applauded from the start to 
the finish of his eloquent address. 



ADDRESS 

of Governor Geo. W. Atkinson, D.C.L.,in the Academy of Music, 
at Richmond, Va., before the Young Men's 
( liristian Association. 



March 20, 1898. 



Subject: The When, the Where, the Why; or Find Something 
to Do, and do it. 

Ladies and Gentlemen:— 

"If you and I to-day should stop and lay 

Our life-work down, and let our hands fall where they wilf, 

Fall down to lie quite still; 
And if some other hand should come and stoop to find 
The threads we carried so that it could wind, 
Beginning where we stopped; if it should come to keep 
Our life-work going, seek 
To carry on the good design 
Distinctively made yours and mine, 
What would it find? » * * 

If love should come, 
Stooping above when we are done, 
To find bright threads 
That we have held, that it may spin them longer, find but shreds 
That break when touched, how cold, 
Sad, shivering, portionless, the hands will hold 
The broken strands, and know 
Fresh cause for woe." 

As men and women, young and old — all of us — should seek to 
know when and where and why we should lend a hand in better- 
ing the condition of our fellow men. The Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association is one of God's great engines that is now being 
used to induce all classes, but more especially young men, to be 
moral, religious and useful. It is plainly the duty of the older 



144 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



Christian men and women of this audience — indeed, of this 
country — to assist this and other branch Associations of young 
men in their untiring work to redeem and save their fellows. 

Do you ask when you should begin? I answer now. Read 
the Bible, and from Genesis to Revelation, God always speaks 
to his people in the present tense. It is now that your services 
are wanted, my brother. God does not mortgage your future. 
The devil does that. But God holds a mortgage on you now. 
"Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation." Will 
you take a hand in this work 72017? May I ask you to settle 
this great question to-night? 

Do you ask me where to begin? Look around you. Any- 
where—all about you souls are famishing for the water of life. 
On every hand men are starving for the bread that cometh 
down from heaven. 

If you want to lend a helping hand to rescue the perishing, 

"Go and toil in an3' vineyard, 

Do not fear to do or dare; 
If you want a field of labor, 

Yon can find it anywhere. 

"Do not then stand idly waiting 

For some greater work to do, 
Fortune is a lazy goddess, 

She will never come to you. 

"If you cannot in the conflict. 

Prove yourself a soldier true; 
If where fire and smoke are thickest. 

There's no work for you to do, 

"When the battle-field is silent, 

You can go with careful tread, 
You can bear away the wounded, 

You can cover up the dead. 

"If you cannot in the harvest 

Garner up the richest sheaves, 
Many a grain both ripe and golden 

Will the careless reapers leave. 

"Go and toil among the briers 

Growing rank against the wall, 
For it may be that their shadows 

Hide the heaviest wheat of all." 

Do you, my friends, ask me why you should do this? I an- 
swer, because it is right that you should do so, and because 
God, who has placed you in this beautiful world, requires this 
much at your hands. May I then ask if it is not the duty 



The When, The Where, The Why. 



i45 



of all of us to find something to do for the Master, and then go 
and do it? What think you my brother, my friend? 

Life is a conflict. On every hand we find two forces persist- 
ently contesting for the mastery. On the one hand is morality 
striving to lift humanity upward to a higher plane of intelli- 
gence and usefulnesss, and to make the world broader and bet- 
ter and nobler and grander. On the other is sin in all of its 
forms pulling down, debasing, degrading, and destroying. As 
I journey through the world, I see two heaps. On the one side, 
is a heap of joy and love and peace and happiness and success. 
On the other, is a heap of misery and suffering and debauchery 
and death. As citizens— though young as many of you are — 
we are building up one or the other of these heaps. There is no 
way to get around this terrible responsibility. We cannot 
evade the issue We, by our acts or our influences, which may 
be as silent as the falling of the snow-flakes, are building up 
that heap of human sorrow and disease and despair, or we are 
rearing higher, and still higher that other heap of joy and 
peace and love and success. If this is true, and no one will dis- 
pute it, ought we not, young and old, at all times, to throw our 
influence, be it great or small, on the side of morality and re- 
ligion, and thus aid, as best we can, in lifting all of our asso- 
ciates to a higher plane of intelligence and usefulness among 
men? 

Pliny aptly compared life to a river. The stream, small and 
clear in its origin, springs forth from rocky dells on the moun- 
tain side, falls into deep glens, and wanders along through its 
romantic and picturesque surroundings, nourishing the wild, 
uncultivated tree and flower by its dews or its spray. In its 
state of infancy and youth it has been very properly compared 
to the human mind, in which fancy and imagination are pre- 
dominant. When the different branches join one another and 
descend into the plane below, the stream becomes slow and state- 
ly in its motions. Other branches and creeks join it on the 
right-hand and on the left, until, by and by, it becomes able to 
bear upon its bosom the massive steamers that carry away the 
products of our mills, farms, factories, and forges. In its ma- 
ture state, it is deep, strong and useful. As it flows on, in its 
meandering way to the sea, it loses its force and its motion, 
and at last it is lost as it mingles its waters with the deep, 
broad, blue, majestic ocean. 



146 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



This is a true picture of human life. We start out on its 
weird, wandering way, and for a time everything seems real 
that surrounds us. The trees shed their beautiful blossoms up- 
on our young heads, and the flowers that beautify and brighten 
everything about us, throw their fragrance athwart our narrow 
pathway. We are happy in hope and expectation, and we 
grasp eagerly at the beautiful things all around us; but the 
stream hurries on, and still our hands are empty. Our course 
in youth and manhood is along a wilder a and deeper flood, amid 
objects more striking and magnificent. We are animated — in- 
deed, astounded— at the rapidly moving pictures and pano- 
ramas that open around and about us. Disappointments come 
upon, excite, and trouble us; but the stream bears us onward, 
and griefs and joys alike are left behind. We may be ship- 
wrecked, but we cannot be delayed. Whether rough or smooth, 
the river hastens to its home, 'till finally the roar of the ocean 
is in our ears, the tossing of the waves is beneath our feet, the 
land lessens from our eyes, and the floods are lifted up around 
us. By and by we take our leave of earth and its inhabitants, 
until, says the good Bishop Heber, "of our future voyage there 
is no witness save the Infinite and Eternal God, our Father 
and Redeemer." 

"There is always a river to cross, 

Always an effort to make, 
If there's anything good to win, 

Any rich prize to take; 
Yonder's the fruit we crave, 

Yonder the charming scene; 
But deep and wide with a troubled tide 

Is the river that lies between. 

"For the treasures of precious worth 

We must patiently dig and dive; 
For the places we long to fill 

We must push and struggle and drive; 
And always and everywhere 

We'll find in our onward course 
Thorns for the feet, and trials to meet 

And a difficult river to cross. 

"The rougher the way that we take, 

The stouter the heart and the nerve; 
The Stones in our path we break, 

Nor e'er from our impulse swerve; 
For the glory we hope to win, 

Our labors we count no loss; 
'Tis folly to pause and murmur because 

Of the river we have to cross. 



The When, The Where^ The Why. 



147 



'"So ready to do and to dare, 

Should we in our places stand, 
Fulfilling the Master's will 

Fulfilling the soul's demand; 
For though as the mountains high 

The billows may rear and toss, 
They'l not o'erwhelm if the Lord's at the helm — 

One more river to cross." 

Just how much life means, words refuse to tell, because they 
cannot. The very doorway of life is hung around with flowery 
emblems to indicate that it is for some purpose. Life may be 
grand. God intended it to be glorious and so paved its course 
with diamonds, fringed its banks with flowers, and over-arched 
it with stars; while around it he has spread the physical uni- 
verse—suns, moons, worlds, constellations, systems— all that 
is magnificent in motion, sublime in magnitude, and grand in 
order and obedience. 

But how few of us appreciate the grandeur of life. To float 
lazily down the stream is to move forward, but unless the speed 
is increased by personal effort, the individual will find himself or 
herself always at the same distance from that which he or she 
is following. Any one can drift, but it takes energy and cour- 
age to drive the machinery which God has given us, and to 
make the most of the circumstances that he has placed within 
our reach. 

My friends, experience has ta,ught me that life is made up 
of small things which hourly occur as we pass through the 
world; and these little acts, far more than the large ones, reveal 
the inward natures of individuals, and furnish the keys to 
their true history. In the home-life — I may say the nobility and 
grandeur of home life— more than in any other place is revealed 
the stuff out of which men and women are made, rather than in 
those crises that are considered the usual test of one's make- 
up as they are written in brilliant feats in the lightning's glare 
across the skies. Gentle deeds of kindness strewn along life's 
pathway leave behind them a halo of light that will shine long- 
er and brighter than the greatest speeches of the world's most 
gifted orators. The little boy who found the waters breaking 
through the dykes in the lowlands of Holland and promptly 
stopped the leak with clay, revealed as noble a manhood as 
brave Winkelreid, who, at the head of the Swiss army, cried 
''Make way for liberty," and rushing upon the bayonets of the 
enemy, made way for liberty and died. The nobje Scotch peasr 



148 



Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



ant girl, Margaret Graham, who, refusing to renounce her re- 
ligion, was, by Claverhouse's order, tied to a stake on the sea 
shore and was overwhelmed by the tide, showed a finer fiber 
and a braver record than Chambronne, when he shouted to the 
British, "The guard dies, but never surrenders." The watch- 
man at Pompeii, burned at his post, tells the Roman story in 
grander language than the ruins of the Collosseum; and bra ve 
Herndon, on the deck of his ship, doing all he could to save his 
crew, choosing death to dishonor, is a grander picture of true, 
heroic temper than that of Julius Caesar leading his legions to 
victory; or the conquering Corsican at the Bridge of Lodi. Ah, 
friends! among the quiet workers in the world are heroes wor- 
thy the emulation of true men and women everywhere. The 
basis of heroism is unselfishness. The man or the woman who 
truly and faithfully carries out this passage of Scripture: "Love 
your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that 
hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you," is 
God's true hero, and man's best guide on earth. 

Fellows, to find something to do, and then do it successfully 
and properly, requires unity of purpose and unity of action. 
It seems to me that nothing in this life can be compared with 
the results and the blessings which naturally flow from the true 
Brotherhood of Man. If there is one thing that I believe more 
fully than another, it is the Fatherhood of God, and the 
Brotherhood of Man: Help one's self, and then help one's 
neighbor to help himself. This is the true Gospel of the Christ. 
"Behold how good and how T pleasant it is to dwell together in 
unity," is as trite and true to-day as the day it was written, per- 
haps four thousand years ago. My friends, we need to lean 
upon one another as we journey through the world. 

I once read this incident which was vouched for as true by a 
missionary from Africa: Said he, "While traveling through the 
Southern portion of that dark continent, I observed two lepers 
in a corn field not far from a hospital or a pest house. One of 
them had no limbs, the other had no arms. The one with no 
legs was sitting upon the shoulders of the one with no arms. 
Upon the back of the latter was a bag of seed-corn which he 
was dropping in a furrow, while the one with the legs was walk- 
ing carrying his load and covering up the grains with his feet." 
Thus the two cripples, by this unity of action, made a perfect 
man. Such an union of forces should be, as far as possible, the 



The When, The Where, The Why. 



149 



aim of all good people everywhere. I am convinced that the 
work of the Young Men's Christian Association among young 
men, develops a disposition to care for one another's wellfare, 
and creates a desire among young men to love, to cherish, and 
to help one another along in the great battle of life. 

My friends, I would not perform my duty faithfully on this 
occasion if I should fail to assert a proposition which I believe 
to be true, and that is this: Character possesses greater power 
than genius. Heart-power is more potent than brain-power, 
because it throws its arms around the multitude and lifts them 
up, while the power to reason with them cannot reach them, 
and therefore cannot move them. Conscience is greater than 
intellect, greater than genius. The world may admire intellect 
and genius, because the}' carry with them, under many circum- 
stances, conviction and power; but it is left for moral men and 
moral women with deep sympathy and great hearts to sway 
the people at their will. George Herbert aptly said, "A handful 
of good life is worth bushels of learning." And this is why we 
often find men of no talent, and comparatively ignorant, exer- 
cising an influence among their fellows entirely out of propor- 
tion to their endowments. They possess a reserved force, a 
latent power that acts secretly, coming forth at their command, 
and possesses an indescribable influence upon the people. Their 
virtues are their means. Who will deny, therefore, that char- 
acter is the noblest of possessions; and that he who possesses 
it owns a treasure more valuable than the ores of Peru or the 
gems of (xolgonda. I would not have you depreciate scholar- 
ship and learning, for in these days of rapid thought and pro- 
gressive development, they are essential to success, whether one 
is drifting or driving; but if we are to have one and not both, 
take character a thousand times in preference to learning. 

The great things of this world have been accomplished by 
men and women whose lives were based on moral acts, and 
whose teachings have always been along the line of religious 
living. All of the vast social reformations adown the ages were 
originated in the minds of men of this class. The great truths 
that sway the world to-night were first proclaimed by those men 
that sought, above everything else, the moral and spiritual ele- 
vation of their fellow men. Many of the great thoughts which 
are now the axioms of humanity, proceeded from the hearts of 
men that were ruled alone by conscience. Moses was the great- 



150 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



est law-giver of all the centuries. King David raised Israel to 
a pitch of greatness that proclaimed a theocratic nation to the 
world. John Wycliffe gave to Christendom the first complete 
translation of the Bible. John Bunyon, the Bedford tinker, wrote 
' 'The Pilgrims Progress," the most wonderful book ever writ- 
ten by human hands, and second only in influence and circula- 
tion to the Bible itself. John Knox rescued Scotland from her 
distracted councils, and her political and ecclesiastical enemies. 
Martin Luther gave the world a Protestant faith, John Wesley 
founded Methodism, John Calvin established the Presbyterian 
denomination; all along the ages, God has placed upon the men 
that have been scrupulously honest and always moral and true 
to character and conscience, the honors of overwhelming suc- 
cess. 

The thought of finding something to do and doing it — of 
driving instead of drifting through life, is beautifully expressed 
by Dr. Charles Mackay in this single stanza: 

" 'Tis weary watching wave by wave, 

And yet the tide heads onward; 
We climb like corals, grave by grave, 

And pave a path that's sunward. 
We're beaten back in many a fray, 

But newer strength we borrow, 
And where our vanguard camps to-day, 

The rear shall rest to-morrow." 

I want to tell you, my friends, if we are to make successful 
headway in our Association work, we should be absolutely un- 
selfish. The world, however, is naturally selfish. That is to 
say, humanity in general have an exclusive regard to their own 
interests or happiness. They, as a rule, have a supreme love 
of self, without regard to the interests or happiness of others. 
If selfishness is not the greatest sin in the world, it is beyond 
qnestion a great sin of the world. Go where you may, you will 
find the soulless individual wrapped in his robes of narrowness 
and meanness, turning a deaf ear to pleas of merit, and study- 
ing how he can best manipulate everything within his reach 
for his own personal aggrandizement. 

An arrogant person, if he join in the performance of any 
laudable action, with men of moderate natures, deals with them 
in the sharing of the praise, as the lion in the fable did with the 
other beasts, dividing the prey they had taken; who making of 
the whole four parts, pleads a title to three of them at least. 



The When, The Where, The Why. 



151 



and if they yielded him not the fourth, of their own good will, 
he would be no longer friendly. Many persons occupy public 
positions with private spirits. Whatever their pretentions may 
be, their real aim is to advance self-interesfc. Such people are 
as suckers at the root of a tree that absorb the sap which is 
intended to keep it alive and give it healthy growth. 

The following advertisement, which I once saw posted on the 
door of a blacksmith's shop at a cross-roads in the country, il- 
lustrates my idea of selfishness: 

"notis. 

"The parclnership heretofore resisten betwixt me and Mose 
Skinner, has this day been resolved. Them what owes the firm 
will please settle with me, and them what the firm owes will 
please settle with Mose Skinner." 

(The speaker then gave another illustration of a red-headed 
man, which very effectively proved the character of selfishness.) 

But, my friends, does selfishness pay in the long-run? iEsop, 
who possessed wisdom far above his rank and esteem in life, in 
one of his fables, speaks of a man who kept a horse and an ass 
and who was wont in his journeys to spare the horse and put 
all the burden upon the ass. The ass, which had been ailing, 
besought the horse one day to relieve him of a portion of his 
load. "For if," said he, "you would take a fair portion of the 
burden I will soon get well again; but if you refuse to help me, this 
weight will surely kill me." The horse however bade the ass get 
on, and not trouble him with his complaints. The ass jogged 
on in silence, but presently overcome with his burden, dropped 
down dead, as he had foretold. Upon this, the master coming 
up, unloosed the load from the dead ass, and putting it upon 
the horse's back made him carry the asses carcass in addition. 
"Alas for my illnature," said the horse; "by refusiug to bear my 
just portion of the load, I have now to carry the whole of it, 
with a dead weight into the bargain." 

Still it is in nature to be selfish. Even the child before it has 
entered very far into the great school of experience, is tempted 
to be unjust towards it fellows. 

How much grander and nobler it is for one to cultivate a gen- 
erous, open, self sacrificing spirit; a nature that goes out in love 
and sympathy for our fellows — caring for them, building them 
up, speaking well of them, and making them better by associa- 
tions with them. A team of horses was one day running off 



152 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



with a small child, when a mother, seeing its danger, cried in 
agony, "Stop that wagon and save the child!" as loud as she 
could scream. A heartless man said, "Silly woman, don't fret 
yourself; it isn't your child!" The woman replied, "J know it; 
but it is some other poor mother's child" 

If by a kind, unselfish act, we should make some person hap- 
py every day, in twenty years we would have to each of our 
credits seven thousand three hundred; and in fifty years, 
eighteen thousand two hundred and fifty good deeds. My dear 
friends, don't you think that would pay? 

Again, I remark, if we would understand the force of the sub- 
ject we are considering, we must possess activity, energy, perse- 
verance. An old Indian was one day asked what, in his judg- 
ment, men loved most? His reply was instantaneous: "Me 
think men most love lazy." He was right— pre-eminently right. 

My friends, shirking never pays; and you know, in this driving 
age in which we live, the oft-repeated query comes to us every 
day, "Will it pay?" Idleness is the bane of both body and 
mind, the chief mother of all mischief, one of the seven deadly 
sins, the devil's cushion, his pillow and chief reposal. An idle 
dog, everybody knows, will be mangy; and how shall an idle 
person escape? Idleness of the mind is worse than idleness of 
the body. Wit without employment is a disease — the rust of 
the soul, a plague, a hell itself. Some apt writer has said: "As 
in a standing pool worms and filthy creepers increase, so do 
evil and corrupt thoughts in an idle person." The converse of 
working is shirking. The workers succeed, but what becomes 
of the idlers and the shirkers? No one need ever hope for suc- 
cess by a dooless course in life. To win success, every man 
must paddle his own canoe — must "toat his own skillet," as 
Sam. Jones aptly expresses it. 

"Keep pushing, 'tis wiser than sitting aside, 
And dreaming and sighing and waiting the tide; 

In life's busy conflict, they only prevail, 

Who daily keep pushing, and never say fail. 

"With an eye always open, a tongue that's not dumb, 

A heart that will never to sorrow succumb; 
In storm or in sunshine; whatever assail, 
Keep pressing right onward, and never say fail. 

"The spirits of angels are happy, I know 
As higher, and higher In glory they go; 

Methinks on bright pinions from heaven they sail, 

To cheer and encourage who never say fail. 



The When, The Where, The Why. 



158 



"In life's rosy morning, in manhood's firm pride, 

Let this be the motto your footsteps to guide: 

In sickness or sorrow, though thousands assail, 
God blessing our labors, we can never say fail." 

My brothers and friends, another thought which our subject 
suggests, is good example. Nothing I can now think of is so 
contagious— so helpful to our fellows as example. The tenden- 
cy among all classes is to do as others do. Never was there 
any good or ill done that did not produce its like. We imitate 
good actions through emulation, and bad ones through a ma- 
lignity in our natures which shame conceals and example sets 
at liberty. Every man we meet, every book we read, every pic- 
ture or landscape we see, every word or tone we hear, mingles 
with our being and leaves its impress upon us. Nothing leaves 
us wholly as it found us. 0, my friends, the power, the wonder- 
ful transforming power of example! 

It cannot be claimed that the acts and deeds of this life are 
permanently enduring; and yet in a measure there is an essence 
of immortality about them. There is therefore something sol- 
emn in the thought that there is not an act done, or a word ut- 
tered by a human being that does not carry with it a train of 
consequences, the end of which we may never trace. Not one, 
but to a certain extent, gives color to our lives, and insensibly 
influences the lives of those about us. The good deed or word 
will live, even though we may not live to see it fructify; and 
so will the bad. No person is so insignificant as to be sure 
that his or her example will not do good on the one hand, or 
evil on the other. The spirits of men and women do not die; 
they still live and walk abroad among us. As the present is 
rooted in the past, and the lives and examples of our forefathers 
still, to a great extent, influence us, so are we by our daily acts 
contributing to form the condition and character of the future. 
Mankind is a fruit formed and ripened by the culture of all the 
foregoing centuries. And the living generation continues the 
current of action and example destined to bind the remotest 
past with the most distant future. 

Pardon an observation — I may say a criticism, along this line 
of thought. It is this: None should try to shield themselves 
from responsibilities because of the humble and, in a sense, insig- 
nificant stations some of them occupy in life. The lowest con- 
dition can be made useful, for the light set in a low place shines 
as faithfully as that set upon a high hill. Everywhere and un- 



154 Public Addresses, Ac., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



der almost all circumstances, however externally adverse, the 
true man may grow. He who tills a space of earth scarce larger 
than is needed for his grave, may work as faithfully and to as 
good a purpose as the heir to thousands. The commonest 
workshop may thus be a school of industry and good morals 
on the one hand, or of idleness, folly and depravity on the other. 
It all depends, my friends, upon the individuals themselves, and 
the use they make of the opportunities for good that a wise 
Providence places w T ithin their reach. 

A proper example, therefore, carries with it the highest 
ideal of life and character. Only a few can reach positions of 
great power and influence in this life, but every one can act his 
or her part honestly and honorably and use the talents which 
God has given him to the best of his ability. Life is centered in 
the sphere of ordinary duties. Many of lis may have to strug- 
gle against a heavy current; but if we persevere, we will certain- 
ly reach the harbor at last. 

"Right for ever on the scaffold, 
Wrong for ever on the throne; 
But that scaffold sways the future, 
And behind the dim unknown 
Standeth God, within the shadow, 
Keeping watch above his own." 

My fellows, pardon me for presenting one thought more. It 
is this: How easy it is for all of us to become discouraged over 
our disappointments and mishaps in life. Ninety-two out of 
every one hundred men that engage in business enterprises fail. 
How dark w r ould the w T orld be if we had no one to encourage us 
when we are dowm beneath the burdens that fall upon all of us 
in the journey of life. What a blessing to the world is the 
Church of Jesus Christ. What a comfort there is in Christian 
privileges aud Christian Associations. Oh! the darkness of a 
world without a Savior— a Comforter. Eeligion says to us, 
"Though the way may be rough, your feet may be sore, and 
dark clouds may envelop you; press on there is a light ahead." 
No man, with a man's heart in his bosom, gets far on his wil- 
derness way without some bitter, soul-searching disappoint- 
ment. How many of us build castles in the air, and expect by 
and by that they will prove as real as they seem; but when we 
reach out our hands to grasp them, they A^anish like some will- 
o'-the-wisp, and the expectant heart is saddened over the disap- 
pointment it receives. An ancient mathematician attributed 



The When, The Where, The Why. 



155 



his success to certain words written by a friend on the paper 
cover of his book, when he was discouraged. These were the 
words: "Go on, sir; go on! The difficulties you meet will disap- 
pear as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn and shine 
with increased clearness on your path." The dispirited student 
declared in after years that this maxim proved his greatest 
master in mathematics. Following out these simple words, 
"Go on, sir; go on!" made him the foremost mathematical as- 
tronomer of his generation. Thus difficulties innumerable are 
swept away by a determined will and a resolute heart. 

Dr. Newman Hall, in one of his London sermons, gave this 
thrilling picture of a discouraged man, who was saved from 
death by a thoughtful and resolute wife: "A tall chimney," 
said Dr. Hall, "had been completed, and the scaffolding was be- 
ing removed. One man remained on the top to superintend the 
process. A rope should have been left for him to descend by. 
His wife was at home washing when her little son burst in upon 
her with; 'Mother, mother, they have forgotten the rope and 
father is about to throw himself down from the top of the 
chimney.' She paused; her lips moved in the agony of prayer; 
and she rushed forth. A crowd of persons were looking up at 
the poor man, who was moving round the narrow cornice terri- 
fied and bewildered. He seemed as if at any moment he might 
fall, or throw himself down in despair. His wife from below, 
cried out, 'Wait, John! Stand firm!' The man recognizing the 
voice of his wife became calm. 'Take off your stocking ; un- 
ravel the yam.' And he did it. 'Now, tie the end to a bit of 
mortar, and lower gentry ' Down came the thread and the bit 
of mortar, swinging backward and forward. Lower and lower 
it descended, eagerly watched by many eyes. It is now within 
reach and is gently seized by one of the crowd. They fastened 
some twine to the thread. 'Now, pull up,' cried the wife. The 
man in a moment got hold of the twine. The rope was now 
fastened on. 'Pull away again,' cried the wife. He at last 
seized the rope and made it fast. There were a few moments of 
suspense, and then amidst the shouts of the people he threw 
himself into the arms of his wife a rescued man. " Ah, friend! how- 
ever discouraged you may become, if you will but pause and 
consider where you stand, and not hasten to unwarranted con- 
clusions, there will always be presented at an opportune mo- 
ment, a thread, a cord, a rope, a rescue. 



156 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson . 



It is easy to discourage a friend in any of his undertakings. 
One may be never so buoyant that lie cannot be disheartened. 
The battle of Mount Gilboa, which settled the earthly destiny 
of the first King of the Jews, was lost before it was begun, be- 
cause of the discouragements heaped upon the Israelitish 
chieftain by the designing Witch of Endor. 

And so it is in most of our trials in life; we give up too quick- 
ly, and once down we lack the courage to rise again. Dr. 
Charles Mackay, who has written many beautiful things in 
verse, never wrote anything more inspiring, and at the same 
time truer to life, than these four stanzas: 

"Art thou down? Low down? 

In the desecrating dust, 
Without a prop to aid thee, 

Or a friend in whom to trust? 
Trust to thyself, forlorn one, 

Stand upright on the sod, 
And asking- help of no one. 

Secure the help of God. 

"Art thou down? Low down? 

Day dark! To-morrow fair! 
To hope is pious duty, 

'Tis wicked to despair! 
If honest pride support thee, 

And conscience keep thee whole, 
Fate's arrows may be blunted 

By the armor of the soul! 

"When in the deadly struggle 

Of hand and heart and brain, 
Thy foothold seems to fail thee; 

Arise and fight again! 
Turn sorrow into solace, 

And in their own despite 
Compel thy foes to aid thee 

To conquer in the fight. 

"Though day be long in breaking, 

The sun must rise at last — 
Blue sky may cheer the noon time, 

Though the morn be overcast! 
Fight on! fight on! fight ever! 

Thou'lt learn the truth ere long, 
That God and man and heaven and earth 

Are allies of the strong." 

My friends, the good work that these young men are doing- 
can scarcely be estimated. It is simply wonderful in its scope 
and power. Think of 350,000 young men banded together in 
thirty-five nations and isles of the sea, speaking fifteen lan- 
guages, possessed of permanent property amounting to twelve 



The When, The Where, The Why. 



157 



millions of dollars, expending annually in their work over two 
millions, and with this money, given by their members and 
friends, keeping open, hospitable buildings and rooms in some 
3,000 cities and towns the round world over— this is the Young 
Men's Christian Association of to-day in the extent of its influ- 
ence. 

Surely, such a noble body of men banded together for such 
laudable purposes is worthy of your confidence and support. 
More than that, you will pardon me for saying, you owe these 
young men a debt that money cannot pay. You owe them a 
debt of gratitude for the moral and religious influence they are 
exerting here in Richmond, that you can never repay. You can, 
however, see to it that they are not hampered for want of 
means to successfully prosecute their work. They are doing 
well. With larger means and better appliances they could ac- 
complish still greater good for the Master and their fellow men. 

And now, good friends, one word more in concluding. In the 
places you are filling in the home circle, are you doing all you 
can? As citizens of the greatest, grandest, freest Republic be- 
neath the stars, are you doing all you can for God and the peo- 
ple? As business men, are you doing what you can? As work- 
ers in the vineyard of the Master, are you doing your level best? 
Are you at ease in Zion, or are you like true soldiers, standing 
on the watch-towers, with swords drawn in defense of those 
principles and doctrines given us in God's inimitable Word, 
that have, all along the ages, transformed darkness into light 
and sorrow into joy? If we have been half-hearted and inactive 
in the past, let us to-night throw open the throttle- valve, so to 
speak, and henceforth drive with all the force God has given us, 
in the direction of high mental, moral and spiritual living, as 
we journey through the world. Let us pledge ourselves anew to 
stand by the Young Men's Christian Association. Let us stand 
by our churches. Let us stand by our pastors. Let us 
stand by the Savior and the Cross. Let us stand by 
Him who has stood by us through the storms of nineteen 
centuries and more. Let us stand by Him who has been a 
father to the fatherless, and has pledged relief to the help- 
less of every land and nationality of men. Let us stand by the 
"Old Ship Zion," as she plows the seas and bears upon her 
prowess to-night the noble and glorious message of "Glory to 
God in the highest, on earth peace and good will to men," 



158 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson . 



"Oh! who would not a champion be 

In this the lordlier chivalry? 

Uprouse ye now brave brother band, 

With honest heart and working hand. 

We are but few, toil tried, but true, 

And hearts beat high to dare and do. 

Oh! there be those who ache to see 

The day-dawn of our victory. 

Work brother, work with hand and brain, 

We'll win the golden age again, 

And love's millennial morn shall rise 

Iu happy hearts and blessed eyes. 

We will, we will brave champions be 

In this the lordlier chivalry." 



ADDRESS. 

of Governor Atkinson, of West Virginia, at Laying of the 
Comer-Stone of the M. E. Church, at Hamlin, W. Va. 

April 14, 1898. 

My Friends and Felloif Citizens:— 

The century that is quietly, but grandly rolling- out, is the 
greatest of all the centuries of the past. Gibbon, in his history 
of the Roman Empire, states that the reign of Marcus Aurelius, 
in the second century, was the golden age of the world. This 
may be true as applied to that period of the world's history; 
but in everything that goes to make true greatness, in no re- 
spect can it be compared with the closing decade of the nine- 
teenth century. In discovery, in literature, in culture, in educa- 
tional advancement, in progress, in loyalty to principle; indeed, 
in everything, except perhaps in art, in poetry, and probably in 
music, the present is truly the golden age of the world. No 
period in the past can be justly claimed as comparable with the 
present. The great inventions and discoveries that have abol- 
ished time, annihilated space and subjugated the forces of na- 
ture, making the sollenceof the seas articulate and the darkness 
of midnight luminous — not one of these existed in the Second 
Century. At that time there was not a friction match, nor an 
iron plowshare, nor a mile of railroad in the world, The tele- 



Address. 



159 



graph, the telephone, the typewriter, the sewing machine, elec- 
tric illumination, agricultural machinery, chloroform and the 
other indispensable agencies of modern civilization, were 
wholly unknown. And yet, in this our day, the golden age has 
not arrived. When we have peace instead of war, education 
instead of ignorance on the part of the many, patriotism in- 
stead of disloyalty, sobriety instead of drunkenness, honesty 
instead of greed, working instead of shirking, religion instead 
of unbelief— when all these things shall come about, the golden 
age will then have dawned, and the world will have become tru- 
ly good and truly great. I tell you, my friends, the hope of the 
future lies in the triumphs of religion and education. The 
Church is the greatest civilizer of all the centuries, and it moves 
hand in hand with education. They are the twin sisters of 
progress, and he who does not aid both of them, in every way 
possible, is not a true patriot, nor is he a friend of civilization. 
Religion and education have ever been the gauge of the prog- 
ress of mankind. Humanity is uplifted wholly by them. There 
is no real growth without them. Every dollar expended for 
the Church and for education is two dollars saved in actual 
outlay to keep the peace and maintain the law. More religion 
and education, fewer police officers. More churches and school- 
houses, fewer alms houses. More preachers and teachers, fewer 
vagabonds and convicts. Higher conceptions of religion and 
duty follow the higher education of all classes. Religion and 
education work together in perfect harmony to lift humanity 
upward to higher planes of intelligence and usefulness. 

It has been aptly said that uniforms and guns and cannons 
and swords do not make soldiers. No, my friends, soldiers are 
made by the service they render on the march and in the brunt 
of battle. Real men do not grow upon parlor carpets any 
more than trees grow in hot-beds. Real men are made by com- 
ing in contact with their fellow men, just as trees are made to 
take deeper root, and stand all the firmer because of the storms 
that beat against them on the mountain crests. Men are not 
made men by the jewels they wear or the official positions they 
fill, but by the cleanness of their lives and the exemplification 
in their daily avocations of the principles of morality and vir- 
tue which all should possess. 

The Church is made, not by massing men and women together 
in cushioned pews and within massive walls such as shall be 



160 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



piled upon this elaborate foundation. The Church of the living 
God is something more than foundations and buildings and 
pews and preachers and people. These are only incidents and 
factors of the Church. There is infinitely more than these fac- 
tors needed to constitute the Church The tap-root of the 
Church of Christ, my friends, "is the vivid apprehension of the 
great revealed truths about accountability, redemption, heav- 
en, hell, immortality, eternity. There must be an awakened 
conscience, which sees in sin the undying worm and unquench- 
able fire, the one infinitely horrid thing that God hates, against 
which his awakened wrath flows for ever like a shoreless ocean 
of fire. There must be a deep and humiliating experience of an 
absolute surrender to the will of God, taking his cause in evil as 
well as in good reports, facing foes, enduring persecutions, en- 
tering dungeons, embracing charred stakes, kissing the head- 
man's ax, and braving also the tortures of scorn and contempt. 
There must also be a holy, all dominating purpose, encircling 
all the race and covering all the years, to do the utmost pos- 
sible at all times and in all places, to lift this dying race of men 
and women up to God and immortality and heaven, A people, 
my brethren and friends, thus convicted and equipped, stand- 
ing upon the Rock of Ages, inspired by the Holy Spirit and 
taught b}^ the Word of God, may rise into the dignity and 
power of a Church." These, therefore, are the only true ele- 
ments of a Church, and any other is only one of form without 
the elements of godliness and power. 

Let us, my fellow citizens, for a moment "look over the sweep 
of history which lies open behind us that we may catch, if we 
can, God's instruction from the ages. The enduring empires 
have been great empires." Egypt and Greece and Home and 
China and Germany and England and our own great Govern- 
ment as well, were insignificant and powerless until they united 
all of their provinces under common flags and worked together 
for a common purpose and a common end. And those Nations 
that educated the moral and spiritual natures of their subjects 
as well as their intellects; have stood the storms of the centur- 
ies; while those that looked only to the development of the 
minds of their people and ignored their moral and spiritual 
faculties, have lapsed into barbarism. This great truth has 
been woven into the warp and the woof of the history of all peo- 
ples, and has been filtered into the blood of all nations, and has 



Address.. 



161 



molded the statesmanship of all ages, and holds with unabat- 
ing power over the Church of Christ as well. The agressive, 
successful nations, therefore, are the religious nations, and the 
Church that does the most for mankind is the spiritual Church, — 
the Church whose ministers and members toil early and late, in 
sunshine or rain, in season and out of season, and always. 
That is the Church of the present and will be the Church of the 
future, and none other can perform the work it was designed, 
under God, to accomplish. 

"You and I, my friends, may nurse our petty politics and cavil 
about our personal rights, while the common enemies of the 
Church march through the breaks in our ranks, leaving us, in 
our weakness and littleness, to mourn over our defeats; but 
there is a wiser and a wider statesmanship within our reach, 
which will close up all denominational breaks in the Church, 
and in all charitable auxiliary organizations, economize all 
power in their vast expenditures, utilize the helpfulness of kind- 
ly friends, and thus compel the respect of infidels and scoffers 
everywhere." 

My fellow citizens, God's Church has come to stay. The truth 
has come to stay. Justice and right have come to stay. The 
Agnostics and the Materialists and the so-called Scientists, with 
their little Henry Clay heads — with more clay than Henry — may 
continue to butt their puny heads against the walls of God's 
great Church, but they will never even jar it. Men, with little- 
ness and prejudices, may oppose the progress of the Church, as 
many are now doing, but they will go down to forgotten graves, 
and the Church will live on forever. While the war goes on, 
patiently within the shadow stands the Prince of Peace offering 
crowns of righteousness, which all shall wear, when they join the 
great procession that is heading on to victory. 

This wonderful work will go on and continue to go on until 
the reign of the New Humanity, upon which the two Saints John 
endeavored to plant the Chistian Church, shall be finally ush- 
ered in. John the Baptist was the .first great reformer, Avhile 
John the Evangelist was the last great Prophet. These two 
Johns were the Patron Saints of the Christian Church. John 
Baptist, with his sledge-hammer logic and his cast-steel cour- 
age, opened the way for the coming Messiah. The Messiah 
came, and by his great example, the Baptist left his impress 
upon all the ages. Then the other great John stepped upon 



162 Public Addresses, &e., of Gov. CI. W. Atkinson. 



the scene, and taking up the work where the Baptist left off, in 
that marvelous Apocalyptic vision, recalled to coming genera- 
tions the golden age that will ultimately dawn upon the world, 
when the New Humanity shall rule and reign, and when the peo- 
ple shall see and know God as he is. 

This latter John in his first epistle general, chapter 3, verse 2, 
thus wrote: "Beloved now are we the sons of God; and it doth 
not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that, when He 
shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He 
is." This, my brethren, in nry opinion, refers to the New Hu- 
manity that shall some day, in God's good time, people this 
earth. It will then be the golden age, to which I have referred. 
According to my w ay of reasoning, this prophecy does not ap- 
ply to heaven, but to earth. When the Church shall triumph, 
when right shall prevail over wrong, when religion shall rule all 
peoples, when the Nations shall bow to the mandates of the 
Heavenly King — then, in this world, and not in the next, "we 
shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." 

It cannot be denied that the Church is moving forward. It 
grows wonderfully and marvelously with the passing of the 
years. There is progress all along the lines of religious endeavor. 
The young Christian workers are organizing as never before. 
They have come to the front in solid phalanx and with steady 
step. Their army is numbered by the million, and they are go- 
ing forth from conquering to conqnest. They are are simply 
an irresistible power in the earth. The existence in the United 
States alone of about 1,000 evangelical Church organizations, 
within the neighborhood of 90,000 ministers and 13,000,000 
communicants, a three-fold gain of their communicants upon 
the total population, is at least some evidence that this is one 
of the Church's favorite periods, and that no signs of retro- 
gression can anywhere be seen. 

Another proof of the aggressiveness of the Church and the 
piety of the times, is the willingness of the people to contribute 
to its support. In this respect, wonderful headway is also be- 
ing made. The American churches, in the last ninety years, 
have contributed in round numbers, about #200,000,000 to 
home and foreign missions, and are contributing annually 
17,000,000 to these objects alone. Probably since 1850, 
more money has been raised by the Protestant Churches of 
Christendom for purely religious purposes, aside from current 



Address. 



163 



Church expenses and local charities, than was raised for the 
same object in all the previous eighteen centuries. 

The proofs are sufficient that while there is an inexorable de- 
mand of God's law and providence upon all the people, that 
they be prophets and come to his help against the mighty, there 
is little alarm and hopelessness. The great work is going for- 
ward and can not be impeded by so-called "Modern Criticism" 
which is a puny apology for senseless Agnosticism. Despite all 
opposition, the car moves steadily forward, and all the powers 
of earth and hell can not throw it off the track. 

My fellow citizens, I have said in this address, and I believe it 
to be strictly true, that the most powerful factor in the civiliza- 
tion of the world, and the elevation of the human race, is the 
Christian religion. The pure morality of the teachings of the 
Christ, and their beauty reflected on the ages for nearly two 
thousand years, from his own life and conduct among men, has 
changed the whole nature and purpose of the human race. Ev- 
ery man is born into the world with three shells around him — 
ignorance, superstition, selfishness, and the Gospel of the Christ 
has broken all of them, and has, wherever it has been put to 
the test, dispelled these dark clouds of ignorance, superstition 
and selfishness which for centuries enveloped the human family 
and stupefied the human race. As a result, human life is longer, 
better and every day happier, and with it has come a clearer 
and broader comprehension of the rights and duties of man. 
He has come to understand that the humblest individual has 
the same claims to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness 
as the king upon his throne; and this subtle and potent influ- 
ence is overthrowing despotism, breaking the chains of slavery 
and sapping the very foundation of tyranny and oppression 
I say to-day, without fear of successful contradiction, that there 
is no culture which has so touched man on every side and has 
so universally bettered his condition as Christian culture, and 
there is no power so potent for good amohg all classes and na- 
tions as the teachings of Christ's Gospel. 

I am aware that the learned skeptic and the highly cultivated 
scientist, in attempting to write the history of civilization and 
human progress, seek for other causes, and construct theories 
about the climate and purer blood and higher nobility of race, 
and give these the credit for human development. But these 
theories will not stand the test of fair and honest investigation. 



164 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



The history of the Anglo-Saxon race is proof positive to the 
contrary. The impartial historian of the human race, who 
writes not to bolster up a pre-conceived opinion, but to find 
out the mysterious forces that awaken the human mind to even 
a feeble conception of its powers, and continues to rouse it to a 
wider range of vision, must give to Christianity the first and 
foremost place. Impress upon the benighted mind of the bar- 
barian, on the feeble intellect of the child, that God is the Fath- 
er of all, and has stamped his own Divine image upon every 
soul; and that the infinite and boundless love of the All-Father 
goes out to all his children; that all alike are, in a sense, equal 
to him; and that this life is but preparatory to the better one 
beyond— and then you have the very starting point on the high- 
way of human progress. The fool may say in his heart that 
there is no God, but such folly does not arrest the inarch of 
truth. As the generations come and go, the dial-plate of human 
progress records all the advances that have been made. The 
motive power and elevating force that is thus lifting the human 
race to a higher plane, is the Christian religion; and this myste- 
rious, all potent power, is absolutely invisible. I have already 
said that it is not the Church edifices, nor the ministers nor the 
individual Church members that exert this influence and power. 
They are only incidents and factors. The real power is the om- 
niscient God himself, and all the Skeptics this side of hell cannot 
controvert it. 

My countrymen, the power of the Gospel has broken link after 
link the chains of ignorance, superstition and selfishness, and 
the most enlightened of all lands are beginning to walk erect in 
the dignity of the free and disenthralled. There are those who 
would snuff out the flaming torch that has lighted our path- 
ways for tw r o thousand years, and would relegate us to the be- 
nighted ways our people trod before John the Baptist cried in the 
wilderness that their paths should be made straight; but they 
are few, and their ranks are lessening every year. The evidence 
is overwhelming and conclusive that the motive power of all hu- 
man advancement is found in the teachings of the Church, and 
that he w T ho would rob the world of that light is the enemy of his 
own soul and an open foe to the best interests of his fellow man. 

The stone we have laid to-day no builder can set at naught, 
because it stands for the Church of the living God, and for all 
that is noble and true and good in man. 



Address. 



165 



I am, my friends, one of those who believe that the world is 
growing better instead of worse. There are more men and wo- 
men now engaged in the world's salvation, in proportion to 
population, than ever before; and this army has not only in- 
creased in numbers, but it has also increased in efficiency and 
power. These are stirring times in which Grod has called us into 
being. Religious sentiment has a deeper hold upon the Ameri- 
can people to-day than it has ever had. The churches that are 
its exponents hold still more and wider power, and are always 
to be reckoned with in the administration of public affairs. 
The time has passed when public men in the United States ven- 
ture, by policy or by measure, to affront this religious sense of 
their constituents. Besides the growing persuasion of that ab- 
solute equality of religious relations among individuals in the Na- 
tion which was a principle in the genius of the old Hebrew Com- 
monwealth, the four most significant aspects of American relig- 
ious development are: 1. The accelerating progress of ourChrist- 
ian Churches towards catholicity of Spirit. 2. The steadily awa- 
kening zeal in the effort for the welfare of the poorer classes in 
society. 3. The organized agency of women in the religious 
and benevolent activities which are the charm and glory of our 
civilization. 4. The organization of, and the bringing into line 
of active workers, the young men and women of the various 
Christian Churches. With this broadening of the field of labor, 
and the enlistment of all these new forces, all toiling for the 
same end, and impelled by the same spirit, I cannot be mistaken 
when I say that there is a better day coining bye and bye. We 
look into the future and hail the coming of the morn, radiant 
and effulgent, when the waves of the sea will become the crystal 
chords of a grand organ on which the fingers of everlasting joy 
will peal the grand march of a world redeemed to Grod. 

"There's a good time coming, 

A good time coming; 
We may not live to see the day, 
But earth shall glisten in the ray 

Of the good time coming. 
Cannon halls may aid the truth, 

But thought's a "weapon stronger; 
We'll win the hattle by its aid — 

Wait a little longer. 

"There's a good time coming, 

A good time coming; 
The pen shall supercede the sword, 
And right, not might, shall be the lord 



166 Public Addresses, &c. 3 of Gov. (i. \V. Atkinson. 



In the good time coming. 
Worth, not birth, shall rule mankind, 

And be acknowledged stronger; 
The proper impulse has been given, 

Wait a littie longer. 

"There's a good time coming, 

A good time coming; 
War in all men's eyes shall be 
A monster of iniquity 

In the good time coining. 
Nations shall not quarrel then, 

To prove which is the stronger; 
Nor slaughter men for glory's Bake. 

Wait a little longer. 

"There's a good time coming, 

A good time coming; 
Hateful rivalries of creeds 
Shall not make their martyrs bleed 

In the good time coming. 
Religion shall be shorn of pride, 

And flourish all the stronger; 
And charity shall trim her lamp, 

Wait a little longer. 

"There's a good time coming, 

A good time coining; 
The people shall be temperate, 
And shall love instead of hate 

In the good time coming, 
They shall use, and not abuse 

And make all virtue stronger; 
The reformation has begun, 

Wait a little longer. 

"There's a good time coming, 

A good time coming; 
Let us aid it all we can — 
Every woman, every man — 

The good time coming. 
Smallest helps, if rightly given, 

Make the impulse stronger; 
'T will be strong enough some day, 

Wait a little longer." 



The Bible. 



167 



THE BIBLE. 

Governor Atkinson's Opinion of the Bible. 



May 10, 1898. 



An opinion was asked of all the Governor's as to the value of 
the Holy Bible as a Text-book, and as to its influence upon the 
people. In reply to this inquiry, Governor Atkinson expressed 
himself in the language following: 

"State of West Virginia, 

"Executive Chamber, 

"Charleston, May 10, 1898. 

"Mrs. Elizabeth B. Cook, 

"President Woman's Educational Union, 

Chicago, Ills. 

"Dear Madam: I have received a copy of the little volume 
published by your 'Woman's Educational Union', entitled 
'Readings from the Bible,' and have carefully examined it. I 
beg to commend your though tfulness and enterprise in this im- 
portant matter. The Bible, in my judgment, is the greatest 
civilizing power of the centuries, and the selections you have 
made from its pages for use in our public schools, cannot fail of 
good results. The arrangement you have made of these Scrip- 
ture selections will prove very helpful to teachers, and impres- 
sive to students in our schools. 

"Mature reflection, covering many years, has caused me to 
conclude that the most powerful fact or in the civilization of the 
world is the Holy Bible. Its teachings and doctrines have made 
human life happier and longer and better. It has broadened 
the outlook and bettered the life of every person who has gaug- 
ed his or her conduct by its precepts. It has pulled the arrog- 
ant and biggoted individual downward and lifted the humble 
and lowly upward. It has overthrown despotisms, has broken 
the chains of slavery, and has sapped the very foundations of 
tyranny and oppression. No other influence has so touched 
mankind on every side and has so effectively lifted the world to 



168 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



higher heights of intelligence and usefulness as the inspired 
Word of Almighty God. It, therefore, seems to me that he who 
attempts to rule the Bible out of our schools is an enemy to his 
own soul, as well as to his fellow man,— especially if it is not 
used in a doctrinal, denominational or sectarian sense by the 
teachers of the Public Schools. No teacher should be allowed 
to do more than simply read the Bible to his or her pupils, 
without note or comment, and to this no one, in my judgment, 
ought to object. 

"Believing as I do, that there is no other book so potent for 
good among all classes and nations and peoples, as the Word 
of God, I commend it as a text-book in all schools, colleges and 
universities in this and all lands, and earnestly and heartily 
endorse the course that you have taken and the work that you 
are doing to make the world better and broader and nobler and 
grander. 

"I have the honor to be 

"Your most ob't servant, 

"Geo. W. Atkinson, 

"Governor of West Va." 



EPWORTH LEAGUE CONVENTION. 

Address of Governor G. W. Atkinson, Ph.D., of West Virginia, 
at Atlanta, Georgia, before the Epworth League 
Convention of the South. 



May 12, 1898. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:— 

Successful armies are not made of uniforms and guns and can- 
nons and swords. Successful soldiers are not made by equip- 
ments such as these. The equipments I have mentioned are, in 
a sense, essential; but it requires more than these to constitute 
successful soldiers and victorious armies. The true soldier is 
made by the services he renders on the march and in the brunt 



Epworth League Convention of the South. 169 



of battle. Real men do not grow upon parlor carpets any more 
than trees grow in hot-beds. Real men are made by coming in 
contact with their fellow men, just as trees are caused to take 
deeper roots and stand all the firmer because of the storms that 
beat against them upon the mountain crests. Men are not 
made men by the jewels they wear or the official positions they 
fill, but by the cleanness of their lives and the exemplification, in 
their daily avocations and callings, of the principles of morality 
and virtue which must lie at the foundation of all real success. 

The Church, my friends, is not made by massing men and 
women together in the cushioned pews of costly edifices. The 
Church of the living God is something more than buildings and 
pews and preachers and people. These, at most, are only inci- 
dents and factors of the Church. There is, therefore, required 
infinitely more than these factors to constitute a Church. The 
tap-root of the Church of Christ is the understanding of, and a 
complete yielding to the will of the Master— an awakened con- 
science, and a vivid conception of accountability, redemption, 
immortality, eternity. These are the true elements of a Church, 
and any other Church is only one of form, without the elements 
of godliness and power. A Church without such consecration 
and sacrifice, will prove as helpless as a gorgeously uniformed 
army without patriotism and without actual service in the 
field. This is the unerring, unfaltering teachings of the Script- 
ures, and it is also the incontrovertible teachings of the cen- 
turies. The aggressive, successful, enduring nations have in- 
variably been the religious nations; and the Church that has 
done the most to make the world better and broader and nobler 
and grander, is the spiritual Church— the Church whose minis- 
ters and members are the most self-sacrificing and the most 
earnest workers, with the single aim to better the condition of 
society and lift humanity to nigher conceptions of right and 
duty. A Church thus consecrated is the Church of the present 
and will be the Church of the future; and none other can perform 
the work it was designed under God to accomplish. 

We hear muchnow T -a-daysof the so-called " Modern Criticism," 
and some of our people are much concerned, lest it might weak- 
en or impede the spread of the Gospel. Fear not, my brethren. 
God's Church has come to stay. The truth has come to stay. 
Justice and right have come to stay. The Ep worth League has 
come to stay. All of these auxiliary organizations of the young 



170 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



people of the different Evangelical Churches of our land have 
come to stay. The Agnostics and the Materialists and the so- 
called Scientists, with their little Henry Clay heads— with more 
clay than Henry— may continue to butt their puny heads against 
the walls of God's great Church, but they will never even jar 
it. Men with prejudices and bigotry and littleness and narrow- 
ness in their outlooks may oppose the progress of the Church, 
as many are now endeavoring to do, but they will go down to 
forgotten graves, while the Church will live on forever. The 
banks of the stream of time are strewn with the wrecks of cen- 
sorships and inquisitions and racks and thumb-screws and fag- 
ots; with the corpses of monarchs and dead empires as pitiful 
memorials of those who have sought to shackle human thought 
and conscience by opposing the mighty juggernaut of truth 
and righteousness. While this war goes on, patiently within 
the shadow stands the Prince of Peace offering crowns of right 
eousness which all victors shall wear, when they join the great 
procession that is leading on to victory. 

My countrymen, this wonderful work will go on and will con- 
tinue to increase in power until the reign of the New Humanity, 
upon which the two Saints John endeavored to plant the Chris- 
tian Church, shall be finally ushered in. John the Baptist was 
the first great reformer, while John the Evangelist was the last 
great prophet. These two Johns were the patron saints of the 
Church of the present and the future. John Baptist, with his 
sledge-hammer logic and his cast-steel courage, opened up the 
way for the coming of the Messiah; and by his great example 
he left his impress upon the centuries. Then, the other great 
John stepped upon the scene, and taking up the work where 
the Baptist left off, in that marvelous Apocalyptic vision, re- 
called to coming generations the golden age that will ultimate- 
ly dawn upon the world, when the New Humanity shall rule and 
reign, and when all the people shall see and know God as 
he is. 

This latter John, in his First Epistle General, third chapter, 
and at the second verse, thus wrote: "Beloved now are we the 
sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but 
we know that, when we shall appear, we shall be like him; for we 
shall see him as he is." This, my brethren, in my opinion, re- 
fers to the New Humanity that shall some day, in God's good 
time, people this earth. It will then be the golden age of this 



Epworth League Convention of the South. 



171 



beautiful, yet siu-sick world of ours. According to nry way of 
reasoning- (and in this I may not be strictly orthodox), this 
prophecy does not apply to heaven, but to earth. When the 
Church shall ultimately triumph, when right shall prevail over 
wrong, when the true religion shall rule all peoples, when all the 
nations shall bow to the mandates of the Heavenly King — then, 
in this world, and not in the next, "we shall be like him, for we 
shall see him as he is." 

It cannot be denied, my fellow citizens, that the Church is 
moving forward. It grows wonderfully and marvelously with 
the passing of the years. There is progress all along the lines 
of religious endeavor. The young Christian workers are organ- 
izing as never before. They have come to the front in solid 
phalanx and with steady and unfaltering step. This army 
alone is numbered by millions, and they are going forth from 
conquering to conquest. They are simply an irresistible power 
in the earth. The existence in the United States alone of more 
than one thousand evangelical Church organizations, with 
about 90,000 ministers and 13,000,000 communicants, a three- 
fold gain of communicants upon the total population, is at 
least some evidence that this is one of the Church's favorite pe- 
riods, and that no signs of retrogression can anywhere be seen. 

Another proof of the aggressiveness of the Church and the pi- 
ety of the times, is the increasing willingness of the people to 
contribute to its support. The Churches of the United States 
since the beginning of this century, have contributed, in round 
numbers, §200,000,000 to home and foreign missions, and are 
contributing annually §7, 000, 000 to these objects alone. In 
the past fifty years, more money has been raised by the Protest- 
ant Churches of Christendom, for purely religious purposes, 
aside from current Church expenses and local charities, than 
was raised for the same object in all the previous eighteen cen- 
turies. 

The most powerful factor in the civilization of the world, and 
the elevation of the human race, is the Christian religion. The 
pure morality of the teachings of the Christ, and their beauty 
reflected on the ages for nearly two thousand years, from his 
life and conduct among men, has changed the whole nature and 
purpose of the human race. Every man, saj r s La Cordaire, is 
born into the world with three shells around him— ignorance, 
superstition, selfishness; and it was left for the Gospel of the 



172 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



Christ to break all of them, and dispel the dark clouds which 
for centuries enveloped the human family and stupefied the hu- 
man race. As a result, human life is larger, longer, better, and 
every day happier; and with it has come a clearer and broader 
comprehension of the rights and duties of man. He has come 
to understand that the humblest individual has the same 
claims to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness as the 
king upon his throne; and this subtle and potent influence is 
overthrowing despotisms, breaking the chains of slavery, and 
sapping the very foundations of tyranny and oppression. Isa} r 
to-night, without fear of successful contradiction, that there is 
no culture which has so touched man on every side and has so 
universally bettered his condition, as Christian culture; and 
there is no power so potent for good among all classes and na- 
tions as the teachings of Christ's Gospel. 

I am aware that the learned skeptics and the highly cultiva- 
ted scientists, in attempting to write the history of civilization, 
give to other causes the credit for human development. But 
these theories will not stand the test of fair and honest investi- 
gation. The history of the Anglo-Saxon race is positive proof 
of the incorrectness of this alleged scientific claim. The impar- 
tial historian of the human race, if he have an honest desire to 
ascertain the mysterious forces which awaken the human mind 
to even a feeble conception of its powers, and continues to 
arouse it to a wider range of vision, must give to Christianity 
the first and foremost place. Impress upon the benighted mind 
of the barbarian, on the feeble intellect of the child, that God is 
the father of all, and has stamped his own divine image upon 
every soul; and that the infinite and boundless love of the All- 
Father goes out to all his children; that all alike are in a sense 
equal to him; and that this life is but preparatory to the better 
one beyond— and then you have the very starting point on the 
highway of human progress. The fool may say in his heart 
that there is no God, but such folly does not arrest the forward 
march of truth. As generations come and go, the dial-plate of 
human progress records all the advances that have been made. 
The motive power and elevating force that is unquestionably 
thus lifting the human race to a higher plane, is the Christian 
religion. 

My countrymen, the power of the Gospel has broken, link af- 
ter link, the chains of ignorance, superstition and selfishness, 



Ep worth League Convention of the South. 



173 



and the most enlightened of all lands are now beginning to 
walk erect in the true dignity of the freed and disenthralled. 
There are those who would snuff out the flaming torch that has 
lighted our pathways for two thousand years, and would rele- 
gate us to the benighted ways our people trod before John Bap- 
tist cried in the wilderness that their paths should be made 
straight; but they are few, and their ranks, thank God, are les- 
sening every year. The evidence is overwhelming and conclu- 
sive that the motive power of all human advancement is found 
in the teachings of the Christ, and that he who would rob the 
world of that light is the enemy of his own soul and an open 
foe to the best interests of his fellow man. 

I am, my friends, one of those who believe that the world is 
growing better instead of worse. There are more men and wo- 
men now engaged in the world's salvation, in proportion to 
population, than ever before: and this army has not only in- 
creased in numbers, but it has also increased in efficiency and 
power. These are stirring times in which God has called us into 
being. Religious sentiment has a deeper hold upon the Ameri- 
can peeple to-day than it has ever had. The Churches that are 
its exponents hold still more and wider power, and are always 
to be reckoned in the administration of public affairs. The 
time has passed when public men in the United States, venture 
by policy or by measure, to affront the religious sense of their 
constituents. The Churches, more than ever before, are culti- 
vating an absolute catholicity of spirit; are caring more and 
more for the welfare of the poorer classes; are utilizing the or- 
ganized agency of woman in the religious and benevolent activ- 
ities, which are the charm and glory of our civilization; and the 
bringing into line of active workers, the young men and women 
of the various evangelical churches. With this broadening of 
the field of labor, and the enlistment of all these new forces, all 
toiling for the same end, and impelled by the same spirit, I can- 
not be mistaken when I say that there is a better day coming 
bye and bye. We look into the future and hail the coming of 
the morn, radiant and effulgent, when the waves of the sea will 
become thechrystal cords of a grand organ on which the fingers 
of everlasting joy will peal the grand march of a world redeemed 
to God. 

God moves through the ages by epochs and eras. The last 
quarter of the century which is now grandly rolling out, has 



174 Public Addresses, kc, of Gov. (i. \Y. Atkinson. 



become epochal by the organization of young* people's societies 
for aggressive Christian activity. In the providence of God, 
the time was ripe for this tremendous event in Church history. 
The growth of young people's societies has been nothing short 
of phenomenal. There are now in the neighborhood of five 
million members of the young people's societies of our evan- 
gelical Churches, nearly one-half of which is made up of the 
Epworth Leagues of the Methodist Churches of this Conti- 
nent. The most of these workers are between the ages of 
fifteen and thirty years. The entire population of the coun- 
try between those ages is, in round numbers, eighteen mill- 
ions. That is to say, one fourth of our population belongs 
to positively aggressive religious societies of the orthodox 
Churches, to say nothing of the young Catholics and other 
young people in the land who also live for high and noble 
purposes. The relationship of this vast Christian army of 
young people to good citizenship can scarcely be estimated. 
The purpose and object of the Epworth League is "to promote 
intelligent and loyal piety in the young members and friends of 
the Church, to aid them in religious development, and to train 
them in the works of mercy and help." Such training there- 
fore is in the direct line of patriotism and good citizenship. 
The moral man is a good citizen, the Christian man is better; 
therefore the Christian man is the ideal citizen,— one who will 
ever stand for justice and the right, and for the best interests 
of his fellow man. 

My fellow citizens, what marvelous headway these young 
Christians are making! When the Crusaders were on their way 
to Jerusalem to rescue the Sacred Tomb from the ignorant and 
unrighteous Turks, their watch-cry- was, "It is the will of God." 
To-night, as this mighty League throng is marching on, to res- 
cue an unrighteous world from sin and ungodliness, their watch- 
cry is that of the Crusaders, "It is the will of God;" and by 
this sign they will conquer. 

A few years years ago I stood out yonder at the Golden Gate 
beside the sighing sea. Xot knowing the hour, and standing 
but a few moments, I could not tell whether the tide was going- 
out or coming in. Standing a little while longer, I observed the 
surging waves coming rolling in until they would strike the 
beach, break asunder, and recede again, foaming, seething, 
white-capped, back to their home in the mighty deep. Stand- 



Epworth League Convention of the South. 



175 



ing a little while longer, I observed that each successive wave 
which struck the beach, climbed higher and still higher upon 
the sands along the shore. Then I knew that the tide of the 
mighty, grand, majestic blue, Pacific ocean was coining in and 
was not going' out. So, standing here to-night upon this vantage 
ground of truth, and looking out over our great country — the 
freest and best beneath the stars — I sa} T with emphasis and with 
a faith which cannot be shaken, that the great tide of public 
sentiment, with reference to the ultimate regeneration of the 
world, is coming in and is not going out. 

This young people's organization, represented here to-night, 
my friends, is not only producing good citizens by their work, 
but they are also producing a generation of Church members 
who, instead of having one out of ten who is actively religious, 
as is now the case, all shall be thorough, consecrated workers 
for the Master, and anointed with Pentacostal power. 

They will also become the world's leaders of thought. While 
others give themselves to frivolous amusements, these devote 
their leisure to the master}^ of courses of study, to literary cul- 
ture, and practice in the art of putting things. They listen to 
lectures, debate great questions, think great thoughts, act noble 
parts; and in life's great drama, they play the roll of being some- 
body. Such young men and women are not to be ciphers, but 
digits— every one standing for something, if standing alone. 

They propose also to follow the great Head of the Church in 
His plan of reaching the multitudes by helping them. The suc- 
cess of the Christ in reaching the masses, unquestionably lay in 
His divinely unselfish sincerity. La Cordaire, the great French 
divine, says: "Love is the immolation of self upon the altar of 
its object. Whosoever has not been thus immolated, has never 
loved." Convince the people that you love them, and you can 
lead them. Convince the people that you can and do sympath- 
ize with them in all of their besetments in life, and you can draw 
them to you and lift them to higher heights of intelligence, good 
morals and religion. Sympathy gave Shakespeare his marvel- 
ous power over men. Sympathy and love are the mighty, un- 
seen powers that will ultimately regenerate the world. (The 
speaker here gave illustrations of the wonderful power of sym- 
pathy. ) 

Notwithstanding the seriousness of their high calling, these 
young people of the Epworth League, are doing much to reform 



176 Public Addresses, <fcc, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



society, so called, by showing the world that supreme enjoy- 
ment, that the most intense realization of what the world is so 
ardently and at such great expense of time and money, but so 
fruitlessly seeking in dangerous and demoralizing pastimes, 
can only be experienced by the pure in heart. They are show- 
ing the world how to have u a good time'' without compromise 
of character and morals. Nay. they are proving to the world 
that they only laugh well whose merry hearts have in them no 
foundation stones for a temple of remorse. They have their 
amusements. Their pleasures are already becoming so manifest 
that it is getting popular to be righteous for the sake of the 
satisfaction of righteousness. They are going to hasten the 
day when "good society" will be the society of the good, and in 
the fulness of time this will come. There can be no question as 
to who is to win in this society race. At any time, we can safe- 
ly put the intelligence and character of these Christian young 
men and young women, who lead clean lives and improve them- 
selves mentally and morally, against the reckless and dissipat- 
ing crowds that aim at nothing but nonsense and hit nothing 
but filth. 

Yes, my friends, the Christian young people of this broad land 
of ours are going to be ideal citizens. They are preparing 
themselves for taking a controlling part in politics. By com- 
bining to form a balance of power, they can. in a large degree, 
dictate the course of events, requiring the office to seek the man, 
and not the man the office, as is largely the case now; securing 
much needed reforms, and relegating corrupt tricksters and 
scheming manipulators to the limbo of musty history where 
such classes of right ought to be entombed out of sight for ever. 
The great need of our country to-day. my fellow citizens, is un- 
selfish patriotism — a kind that will create a rival in the direc- 
tion I have indicated, by being on hand at the primaries, and 
then do its shouting at the ballot-box. 

These are thekind of citizens this organization is making, and 
they will take a mighty hand in the years that are to come. 
They can be relied upon for patriotism. They will stand by the 
Constitution and the Flag. They will stand by their pastors 
and their Churches. They will stand by the Savior and the Cross. 
They will stand by the old shipZion, as she plows the seas, bear- 
ing upon her prowess the noble and glorious message of "Glory 
to God in the highest, on earth peace and good will to men." 



Decoration Day Address. 



ITT 



(The speaker closed with an eloquent appeal for young and 
old alike to so live that their eternity may be spent in the bet- 
ter world beyond.) 



DECORATION DAY ADDRESS. 

Of Governor George W. Atkinson, at Cameron, West Virginia. 

May SO, 1898. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: — 

So much has been so well said by the gentleman who has pre- 
ceded me relative to the teaching's of Decoration Day, that I 
will leave off much that I had intended to say. Suffice it to say, 
however, that I heartily indorse the observance of the day. It 
is well for the soldiers of the Union to gather once a year 
around the graves of their deceased comrades and sprinkle 
them over with flowers and tears. 

Let me begin my remarks, my friends, by reciting before you 
a few stanzas from that beautiful poem entitled, 

"PLEDGE TO THE DEAD." 

"Where they roam on the slopes of the mountain 

That only by angels are trod; 
Where they muse by the crystaline fountain 

That springs in the garden of God. 
Are they lost in unspeakable splendor? 

Do they never look back and regret? 
Ah! the valiant are constant and tender, 

And honor can never forget. 

"Divine is their pitying sadness, 

They will grieve for their comrades of earth, 
They will hear us and start into gladness, 

And echo the sounds of our mirth. 
They will raise their wbite hands in a blessing 

We shall know by the tear that it brings, 
The rapture of friendship confessing, 

With harps and the*waving of wings. 



'If the wind that sighs over our prairies 
No longer is solemn with knells, 



178 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



But lovely with flowers and fairies, 

And sweet with the calm Sabbath bells; 
If virtue in cottage or palace, 

Leads love to the bridal of pride, 
' Tis because out of war's bitter chalice, 

Our heroes drank deeply and died. 

"O! grander in doom-stricken glory 

Than the greatest that linger behind, 
They will live in perpetual story 

Who saved the last hope of mankind. 
For their cause was the cause of the races, 

That languished in slavery's night, 
And the death that was pale on their faces 

Has filled the whole world with its light. 

"To the clouds and the mountains we breathe it, 

To the freedom of planet and star, 
Let the tempests of Ocean enwreathe it, 

Let the winds of the night bear it far. 
Our oath — that 'till manhood shall perish 

And honor and virtue are spread, 
We are true to the cause that they cherish 

And eternally true to the dead." 

Now, my friends, I know yon will pardon me for philosophiz- 
ing a little here to-day. For two hundred and fifty years an 
unceasing- conflict has been going on between two ideas on this 
Continent. One of these ideas came to our shores on the "May 
Flower," and was planted by the Plymouth Rock settlement in 
Massachusetts. The other idea came on a Dutch ship, and was 
rooted in the Jamestown settlement in Virginia. One of these 
ideas was the God-given doctrine that all men ought to be free; 
that every man beneath God's stars ought to own himself, and 
walk erect in the dignity of free, untrammeled manhood. The 
other idea was the antipode of the one I have just stated. It 
taught not only that human slavery was not wrong, but it 
claimed that it was absolutely right. It proclaimed the doc- 
trine that men might own their own fellow men, and that the 
strong might rule the weak as with a rod of iron. For two hun- 
dred years these separate thoughts or ideas were allowed to 
grow 7 . The Plymouth Rock idea spread North and West until 
that entire stretch of country north of the Ohio river and as far 
west as the Rockies became permeated with the doctrine that 
God Almighty intended everybody to be free, and to own him- 
self, and to do as he pleased as long as he pleased to do right. 

The Jamestown idea followed the Ohio river towards the 
West and the Mississippi to the South, weaving its web into the 
natures and lives of the people until its work was so completely 



Decoration Day Address. 



179 



done that a thousand years will not wipe it out of the lives and 
memories of the people in the perpetual summer Southland of 
the Republic. 

What has been the result thus far of the seed sown in these 
two Colonies? In 1860, we had upwards of forty million people 
in the United States. Nearly twenty-five million of them were 
given over in thought and education to the eternal justice of 
the Plymouth Rock idea, while about fifteen million stood out 
upon the Jamestown doctrine; and like the youthful Hannibal, 
who was taken by his father ]bo the altar of his country and was 
made to swear eternal hostility to the Romans, so these James- 
town followers declared that they would all die before they 
would yield one iota of the old slavery doctrine of their fathers. 
Upon this doctrine of human slavery they resolved to stand, 
sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish. (Applause.) 

All the while these thoughts or ideas were takingdeeper root. 
Agitation only seemed to send the tap-roots deeper down into 
the natures of the people. 

In 1844, the Methodist Episcopal Church divided North and 
South on this rock of human slavery— the Jamestown doctrine. 

In 1860, the issue became political as never before, and the 
people in a National election were asked to pass upon the prop- 
osition of extending slavery into the Western Territories. 
They spoke; they said the Plymouth Rock idea was right and 
the Jamestown idea was wrong, and they elected Abraham Lin- 
coln, the great rail-splitter of the West, to the Presidency of the 
Republic upon the platform of universal freedom. What then? 
The sword was unsheathed, and the clanking of musketry could 
be heard from Fort Sumter to Bunker Hill monument, in the 
"Old Bay State." (Loud applause.) 

Do you say to-day that there was no cause for our civil war? 
The crisis came, — the shackles were broken from the wrists of 
four million bondsmen, and they were made free. Who did it? 
God did it; but you soldiers were the instruments He used to do 
His work. He always uses humanity for the furtherance of His 
purposes. You shot to death the Jamestown idea, and amid 
the flaming rafters of the Southern Confederacy, human slavery 
was burnt into ashes, and the ashes were scattered to the four 
winds of the earth; and thank God to-day there can nowhere be 
found beneath the shadow of our flag the foot-print of a single 
slave. (Applause.) 



180 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



I have not time to develop this argument further. All I will 
add is this: Where your work by your bayonets, and swords, 
and guns was left off, education and religion came in and took 
up the cause; and in the fullness of time, the work of the war 
will be completed when all men, white and black, are raised to 
the exalted plane of intelligent Christian manhood and intelli- 
gent Christian womanhood. 

One thing, I think all will agree, was settled by the war, and 
that is that no rule or ruin party can ever have a healthy exist- 
ence in the United States of America. The Southern people 
tried that doctrine when President Lincoln was elected. They 
said then, we will not submit. We will ruin the country, if we 
are not allowed to rule it. But they were the ones that got 
ruined. The Anarchists say they will blow us up. We will blow 
them up. 

The Pilgrims before they landed at Plymouth Rock, knelt 
on the bow of the May Flower, and took a vow called "The Pil- 
grim Covenant," which was that the will of the majority hon- 
estly expressed, should be the law by which they were to be 
governed in all that they were to undertake. Since then, the 
will of the majority in this free land is the law, and it will 
alw r ays be so. 

The war also settled two other things which I will briefly no- 
tice: First, that labor is of God; that it is right for men to 
engage in honest toil, and that no badge of dishonor shall ever 
again rest upon labor in this government of our fathers. 
Second, that popular government is not only possible, but it is 
real and abiding and strong. The self-control of our half mil- 
lion citizen soldiers, when they came home from the war, and 
resumed their various avocations, demonstrated to all the 
world that government of the people, for the people, by the peo- 
ple was an assured fact on this Continent of our Fathers. (Ap- 
plause. ) 

A few words more in conclusion: While in New York a short 
time ago, I saw in Central Park one of the obelisks of Cleopa- 
tra, which, a few years since, was removed at great cost from 
Alexandria in Egypt to that imperial city of our New World. 
As I looked upon its strange hieroglyphics, I said to myself, 
this obelisk for two thousand years was a silent witness to the 
rise and fall of Lower Egypt. It has seen the Caesars, the Phar- 
aohs, the Ptollmies, the Moslems, the Greeks, and the Romans 



Address Presenting an U. S. Flag. 



181 



pass its base, and pause and look upon its strange records. 
Those old nations were rich, and learned, and great, but they 
represented aristocracy and oligarchy, and not liberty. They 
have all gone, and the obelisk stands on a new Continent and 
looks down upon a new civilization. Beneath its shadow we 
Americans are working out a new destiny based upon a new 
idea. Our dead citizen soldiers are so many silent sentinels, 
like the Central Park obelisk to the doctrine of liberty based 
upon free government and free institutions. Upon their tombs 
we look and read a record of liberty that has a destiny of 
glory yet to reach, and the soldiers, living and dead, must 
share largely in that glory. (Applause.) 

Fellow-citizens, "let us not believe in death, but in immortal- 
ity; let us believe that to our dead soldiers has been given such 
places as suit the full-grown energies of heaven; let us believe 
that nothing can ever bereave them of the records they made 
here, and that they are now something far advanced in state, 
and that they wear a brighter crown than man can ever weave 
them." (Continued applause.) 



PRESENTING FLAG. 

Address of Governor G. W. Atkinson, at Charleston, in Present- 
ing a Flag to a Company of Colored Soldiers, who 
Volunteered in the War against Spain. 



July 19, 1898. 



Soldiers of the Republic: — 

In my judgment the United States is the flagship of the world, 
and this is her flag. I have been requested to present it to you, 
in the name of a few of the liberty-loving people of this city, and 
we place it in your keeping. We expect you to carry it to the 
front, and we know that you will not allow it to be insulted or 
trailed in the dust. Its intrinsic value is not great, although it 
cost its donors no insignificant sum. Its greatest value is in 



182 Public Addresses, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



what it represents. It represents the freest Nation beneath the 
stars. It represents a Nation of men and women who love lib- 
erty, without regard to race, color or condition. It represents 
a united country also. We think it represents the richest and 
most progressive Nation on God's foot-stool. In its contigu- 
ous, arable territory; in the richness of its soil; in its climatic 
conditions; in its mineral resources; in the variety and extent of 
its timber; in its oil and gas; in its hills and vales and its unsur- 
passed scenery; in its coast-lines and water-ways; in its im- 
proved means of transportation; in its educational facilities 
and its high regard for the spiritual and the divine; in the ge- 
nius of its people and their marvelous growth and greatness,— 
in all these, and more, this Nation of ours stands unprecedented 
and unparalleled; and this is why I say to you to-night that 
these stars aud stripes are honored by every government on 
the earth, except Spain; and before "Uncle Sam" gets through 
with her, her subjects will uncover and will be glad to reverent- 
ly bow their heads beneath its shadow, and kiss the hand that 
smote her. Before they get done with our army and our navy, 
they will wish that Colum 1 mis ha d never disco vered this continent ; 
aye more, they will wish that they never had been born. They 
will escape happily if our "Uncle Samuel" does not spit on them 
and drown them. History will congratulate the human race 
on the mindless folly of Spain. She was a fool to go to war 
with the United States at all; she is twice a fool to persist in 
hostilities from which she alone can suffer. But the longer the 
war lasts, the better it will be for the world, since each day of 
its prolongation means a gain for liberty and the betterment of 
the human race. We will welcome peace, but not until Spain is 
conquered and the hamstrings of tyranny are hopelessly sev- 
ered forever. (Loud applause.) 

My countrymen, it is a great thing to be a soldier in an army 
like ours. We are not in this contest for greed or gain. We 
are warring for principle; we are warring for the right, and we 
are warring for the weak and the helpless against the strong. 
We not only stand for the liberties which we ourselves enjoy, 
but in this contest we have proclaimed in thunder tones which 
are encircling the globe to-night, that no longer shall tyranny 
be tolerated on the Continent we love. Humanity demands 
that Spain must withdraw from the New World in everlasting 
disgrace. More than that, this reign of a new humanity de- 



Address Presentixci an U. S. Flag. 



183 



mands that the Empire of Spain should be wiped off the map of 
the world, and sooner or later she will go. The time has gone 
by forever when bigoted monarchs and rulers, backed by illiter- 
ate and ignorant subjects, like the majority of the Spaniards, 
can starve into subjection the people of their provinces, when 
God's laws and the laws of the just everywhere tell them that 
they should be free. They will be free. The United States has 
said it, and it will be done. Before you return this flag, which I 
present you to-night, Cuba will be free. Puerto Rico will be free. 
The Phillipines will be free. The Cape Yerde Islands will be free, 
and our National Banner will wave above them all. They will 
be ours as trophies of this war, but they will be free. This flag- 
waves to-night over the Hawaiian Islands, and it will never be 
lowered except by American hands. It will hereafter be our 
business, as a Government, to see to it that all of the Islands 
I have mentioned, have free and stable Governments, and it will 
be done. You need have no fears about that, my friends. 

You are colored men, but you are Americans. The color of 
your faces does not affect the loyalty of your hearts. The 
prayers of our people will follow you to the front, and may God 
bless you in your fight for the right. This flag is the priceless 
possession of all the earth, wherever men strive to be free. It is 
your flag. Take it and protect it though the heavens fall. 
(Loud and prolonged cheers.) 



ADDRESS 

of Governor G. W. Atkinson, LL. D., in Presenting a United 
Sta tes Flag to the 2nd Regiment of West Virginia 
Volunteers, at Charleston. 



August 6, 1898. 



Soldiers of the 2nd Regiment W. Ya. Infantry Volun- 
teers:— 

This is an auspicious occasion. l T ou are soldiers who have 
volunteered to defend our Flag and our Constitution against a 
foreign foe. You are patriots, and the world will record you 



184 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



such. The valiant deeds of a soldier never die. If you, on the 
battle-field are brave and true, you will be rewarded for your 
acts, and your achievements will go into history. Do not for- 
get, my countrymen, that the people of this great Republic will 
not fail to reward their soldiers for their every act of heroism 
and valor. 

The achievements of the American armies, my friends, are of 
the most glorious character from the days of the Declaration 
of Independence to the present. They illustrate the courage, 
endurance, and loyalty of the distinctive American citizen. 
They show to all the world what an intelligent, educated, con- 
scientious class of people can do. Naturally we feel proud of 
the success of our armies; and when we consider results, we are 
struck with Avonder over the exhibition of the rare qualities of 
our army and navy whenever called forth by the strenuous con- 
ditions that surround them. In the present war with Spain, we 
have every reason to be proud of our fellow-citizens in arms. 
They have added new glory to the American name. They have met 
and overcome the difficulties which stood in their way and our 
Country is now content to enjoj^to the full these recent splendid 
exhibitions of American manhood. We are Anglo-Saxons, and 
they are the greatest race that has yet inhabited this globe. 
History tells us that the Anglo-Saxons have never been de- 
feated in war, and I do not believe that they ever will be defeated. 
They are an educated, bramy race, and no one can deny that 
"knowledge is power.'' EA r en mortar, my friends, is better 
when mixed with brains. 

There is a time, my countrymen, for war and a time for peace. 
Both cannot exist at the same time. War is pitiless, and 
strikes to hurt. Pity is not for the enemy until he is conquered. 
I said, a few days ago, in this city, in presenting a flag to a 
company of volunteers in the present war with Spain, that 
Spain was a fool to allow this war to begin, and that she is a 
double fool to allow it to continue. I desire to reiterate that 
statement to-day. She seems very recently to have caught the 
force of this idea, and I hope she will profit by it. The Spaniard 
is brave, but he is at the same time a blow-hard and a brag- 
gart. We waste time when we parley with him for peace. The 
only way to settle him is with bayonet, bullet and sword. The 
proper way to dispose of him is to unhorse him, and set our 
heel upon his esophagus. When he is down, he will squeal, but 



Address Presenting an U. S. Flag. 



185 



not before. The best way to treat him is to squeeze him until 
he squeals. He is squealing now, but he will squeal louder before 
'•Uncle Sam" lets loose his grip. The fool-hardy Spaniards be- 
gan this war— let them get out of it the best way they can. It 
is their funeral, not ours. They will whine pitifully before we 
forget "The Maine." (Applause.) 

I feel like the little boy who had a fashion of unduly scratch- 
ing his head. His mother told him one day that she was going 
to entertain company at her home, and the urchin therefore 
must promise her not to scratch his head, and especially at the 
dinner table. The boy held out the best he could as to his 
promise, but broke over at last. His mother took him to task 
for his head-scratching, and his defense was, "Mother, they be- 
gan on me first." So it is with Spain in the present war. They 
begun a war on us when they blew up the "Maine," and killed, 
outright, 256 of our unsuspecting sailors. Before we get done 
with Spain for that awful crime, we will puncture her old hide so 
full of holes that it won't hold "shucks.'' (Loud laughter and 
applause.) 

From the opening of this war to the present, our army and 
navy have had one continuous line of victories. These victories 
excel the hulling at Lissa. They put the battle of the Yalu in 
the shade. There is more drama in them, there are episodes 
more spectacular, and incidents more sensational than in any 
engagements since the battles of Thermopylae and Trafalgar. 
As achievements, they are unequaled; as results, unexceeded, 
and as chapters in modern warfare, they will thrill generations 
to be. (Applause. ) 

The Spaniards cannot shoot. At best they can only "riddle 
the sea,' 5 while every time an American cannon goes off, a Span- 
ish ship goes down into the sea, or on land a Spaniard bites the 
dust. Before this war is over, their Blancos and Cerveras and 
Weylers and Sagastas will have learned some sense. They will 
have learned by experience what they should have learned from 
history and current events, that a buz-saw is dangerous, and 
that an educated Nation of Anglo-Saxon patriots, caimot be 
defeated by wind or threats or bravado, or by mustard-seed 
shot. Why. my countrymen, their best gunners cannot even 
hit a flock of barn-doors fifty paces distant. Their shooting is 
a burlesque on modern gunnery. In this respect they are the 
laughing stock of the civilized world. ( Laughter. ) 



186 Public Addresses, &c, op Gov. G. W. Atkinsov 



But, my friends, the world must live and learn. A burnt 
child dreads a fire. A fool never sits down on a red-hot stove 
but once. Blanco telegraphed Sagasta that he could capture 
Washington with ten thousand Spanish soldiers. The old fool 
does not seem to know that the women and the children of that 
city could drive him and his ten thousand in disgrace from our 
capital with broom-sticks and boulders, to say nothing of the 
backing they would have from the "Metropolitan police," and 
everybody knows that they are not specially dangerous, or 
overcharged with energy. But I must not dwell here. (Laugh- 
ter.) 

My countrymen, I have been requested by the patriotic ladies 
of Charleston, to present our Second regiment of West Virginia 
volunteers with this splendid stand of "colors." No regiment 
in the service will have a superior outfit — because these flags are 
as fine as money can buy. You are patriots, and the donors of 
these flags are also patriots. It is true that they are women; 
but the women and the children are much the better part of the 
human race. You old male fossils know that this statement 
is true. ( Laughter. ) 

These Charleston ladies do not class themselves with Semira- 
mis and Zenobia, who wrote their names in blood; nor with 
Aspasia who corrupted Athens and made Greece drunk with the 
wine of her sensuous charms; nor with Cleopatra, Egypt's beau- 
tiful and the world's shameless courtesan; — nay, none of these, 
famous through their un womanliness and infamy, as the illus- 
trators of the glory of their sex. None of these typed American 
women are represented among the donors of these flags. Their 
type of womanhood is of that truer and better character which 
is represented in history by Penelope, weaving amid her maid- 
ens through weary years, the web that sheltered her virtue, 
until her royal husband returned from his wanderings and wars 
to gladden her waiting heart; or courteous Rebecca at the well; 
or timid Ruth gleaning in the field; or nobler still, the Roman 
Cornelia, who, taunted in Rome's decaying age by rivals with 
her poverty, held up her virtuous children exclaiming, "These 
are my jewels!" Fit woman to have been the mother of the 
Gracchi, and like whom had all Roman mothers been, Rome 
might to this day have boasted an unbroken progeny of heroes. 
These, my countrymen, are the types of women that West Vir- 
ginia produces, and we need not therefore wonder at the stamina 



Address Presenting an U . S. Flag. 



187 



and manhood of our AVest Virginia troops, than whom no bet- 
ter and braver men ever leveled a musket or unsheathed a 
sword. (Applause.) 

In the name of the good women of Charleston, I hand these 
flags over to you, and in their names, and in God's name, I beg 
of you to not allow any one to lower them except yourselves. 
It is our flag — your flag; and may God Almighty grant that it 
may never be made to kiss the dust. while it is in your keeping. 

Proud flag of the free, the fair light of thy glory, 
Hath spread over earth, unbeclouded and free; 
And the pride of her song and the boast of her story 
Hath something to tell of thy banner and thee; 
This banner hath waved in the fight of past ages, 
When thy champions battled on America's plain; 
And whenever opression's fierce violence rages. 
This banner Khali wave in red triumph again, 

Then hail to thy banner, and hail to thy spear, 

(Jnrusted by time, and unshaken by fear. 

Nor above when the angel of wrath poured his vial, 
And Nations to battle marched proudly from far, 
Has thy worth been approved thro' each various trial, 
Benignant in peace, as undaunted in war; 
Thou hast guarded the weak, and consoled the forsaken, 
W ho wept in despair till thy charity came; 
And gratitude never more warmly did waken 
Her song, than when echo resounded thy name, 
Then hail to thy beauty, hail to thy glory, 
And let memory cherish them both in her story, 

Let us, my fellow citizens, not forget that generations of men 
and women may come and go, and follow one another as do the 
billows on the ocean's crest, rising in their majestic form, 
crystal-crowned, only to fall and be dashed to pieces upon the 
rocks along the shore; but let us remember forever that the acts 
of our true heroes never die. 

When the Buddhists, as they aimed to do, reformed the Brah- 
min faith, they laid down six transcendent virtues — alms, mor- 
als, science, energy, patience and charity. These were their 
stepping stones to eternal repose. A thousand years later Con- 
stantine espied the flaming Cross in the midday sky, and while 
that emblem of faith has been carried in triumph to every civil- 
ized spot upon this globe, our struggles toward a higher and 
better estate upon the earth are opening the door upon the fut- 
ure, so that all of us, if we desire, may see within. Let us thank 
God, my friends, for this unrestricted vision; and let us pledge 
ourselves anew to rear to these patriots of ours this flag of 
State, until its towering monument shall catch the first rays of 



188 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. (i. W. Atkinson. 



the rising, and the last rays of the setting sun. [The regiment 
saluted the (jlovernor, and gave three cheers in ringing tones.] 



REMARKS 

of Governor Atkinson, in Presenting a Sword to Capt. J. M. 
Burns, of the 17th Regt. U. S. Infantry at 
Charleston, West Virginia. 



August 15, 1898. 



Captain Burns:— 

I have a few words to say to you as the mustering officer of 
this regiment, (2nd West Virginia Volunteers) as it now stands 
in reA T iew before us. We, as West Virginians, are naturally 
proud of this regiment, because of the splendid personnel of both 
its officers and men; and we regard you as the father of the regi- 
ment, because you, as the mustering officer of theUnited States 
Government, have administered the oath of allegiance to every 
one of these men, who now stand uncovered in our presence. 
You required each of them to declare with an uplifted hand 
that his sword should be drawn and his musket should be lev- 
eled in the defense of his country and her flag. 

You, my dear Captain, have been universally courteous and 
kind to these officers and men, and the officers have selected me 
to assure you of their appreciation of you and your methods 
as a soldier in our regular army. 

I have read history in vain, my dear Captain, if it does not 
teach, in unmistakable language, that true merit is always ap- 
preciated, and is always rewarded. It sometimes comes 
slow, but it conies at last to those who are really deserving. 
Y 7 ou are an old soldier, and being such you know how to treat 
your men. I am aware of the fact that on their own merits 
modest men are dumb. True men allow others to sound their 
praises. You have blown no trumpet of your own since you 
have been in the midst of these soldiers; and this is why all of 



Presenting a Sword to Capt. J. At. Burns. 



189 



them admire you. George Eliot aptly said that ''affection is 
the broadest basis of good in life," and she was forever right in 
that utterance. These officers and men have carefully timed 
your every movement here. You have been exemplary in all 
your acts; and this is why all of us have deep affection for you. 

You, my dear sir, have been your own arbiter, and have won 
your way by merit, and not by any other pull. Napoleon when 
asked by the Emperor of Austria— his prospective father-in-law 
—to allow the publication of his great achievements as the 
foremost man of his times, and perhaps of all times, said: "I 
had rather be the descendant of an honest man than of any 
petty tyrant. I wish my nobility to commence with myself, aud 
derive all my titles from the French people. I am the Rudolph 
of Hapsburg of my family. My patent of nobility dates from 
the battle of Montenotte." Like Napoleon, my brother, if you 
will pardon the illustration, you have derived your titles from 
the American people, and your patent of nobility comes direct- 
ly from the people you have served. Your real patent to nobil- 
ity lies in this one tiling above all others, that God, your father 
and mine, moulded you a gentleman, when he fashioned you as 
a man. This is saying much, I know, but it is not saying too 
much, because I know whereof I speak. True merit has no nec- 
essary conjunction with praise. It may exist without the 
breath of a word. It is a recognition of excellence which must 
be felt, but need not be spoken. But withal, my brother, the 
world knows what true merit and true manhood are, and this 
is why we are assembled here to-day. Base envy withers at 
another's joy, and hates that excellence it cannot reach. 

Capt. Burns, the officers of this, the second regiment of West 
Virginia Yoluteers, have purchased this magnificent sword, and 
have asked me to hand it to you as a slight expression of their 
appreciation of your worth. Y^ou have been two months asso- 
ciated with them, and they ask me to say to you, for them, 
that these associations have been profitable and pleasant. 
They have enjoyed your goings in and out their camp on the 
banks of the majestic Kanawha which murmurs along in its 
meandering way to the sea. 

Herodotus tells us that the ancient Scythians worshiped a 
bare sword as their God. We do not believe in that. We wor- 
ship only the true and living Clod; but we worship the sword 
only as a weapon to be unsheathed when truth and justice 



190 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. (i. W. Atkinson. 



have been attacked. This sword is yours, by the will of these 
officers, and I know you will wield it in the defense of liberty 
and the right. It is yours for yourself and your posterity for- 
ever, and in your keeping, I am sure it will never be dishon- 
ored. In the name of its patriotic donors I now hand it to 
you. 



GILMER CO. SHARP-SHOOTERS. 

Governor Atkinson made God-Father of a Military Company 
of Soldiers in the Spanish War. 

Camp Atkinson, 

Charleston, West Virginia, 

August 15th, 1898. 

To Hon. George W. Atkinson, 

Governor of West Virginia, 
and Mrs. Myra H. Atkinson, 

Wife of the Governor of West Virginia. 
We, the officers, non-commissioned officers and men of Co. 
"L," enlisted in the County of Gilmer, and town of Glenville, 
believing in your honor, virtue, integrity and patriotism, pre- 
sent compliments and request that you be a God-Father and 
God-Mother to this Company and give it a suitable name. 
Signed: 

1. D. U. O'Brien, Capt., Glenville, W.Va. 

2. J.H.Martin, 1st Lieut., Charleston, " 

3. Chas. F. Sentz, 2ndLieut., Hinton, " 

4. C. A. Stalnaker, Serg't., Troy, Gilmer Co., " 

5. Hays Haymaker, Serg't., Arnoldsburg, Calhoun Co., " 

6. Ona M. Ewing, Glenville, Gilmer " " 

7. C. B.Chrisman, Q.M.Serg., 

8. Warren Lewis, Serg't., Conings, " " 

9. Herbert A. Woofter, " Glenville, 

10. Ralph Sommerville, Cor., Auburn, 

11. Willie P. Brannon, " Glenville, 

12. Alfred B. Wright, 



Gilmer County Sharpshooters. 



191 



13. E.J.Collins, Buffalo, W.Va. 

14. Clarence West, Corp., Rosedale, " 

15. J. E Paterson, Linn, Gilmer Co., " 

16. H. H. Berry, Glenville, 

17. Gail Fish back, 

18. Robert E. Hays, 

19. Guy B. Young, Corp., Troy, " 

20. Pearley C. Norris, " Cedarville, " 

21. H. L. Ewing, Jr., Mus., Glenville, 

22. C. T. Bennett, Artificer, Burnt House, 

23. V, W. Cox, Wagoner, Glenville, 

24. J. L. Floyd, Col. Guard, 

25. Willie Money penny, Millstone, " 

26. Preston Newell, Millstone, 

27. L. B. Phillips, Buckhannon, 

28. William Black, Glenville, 

29. R. S. Rutherford, Cedarville, 

30. Wm. Oldaker, Auburn, 

31. Asa F. Ball, Copen, 

32. Frank Cox, Glenville, 

33. H. J. Watson, Auburn, 

34. C. F. Riddel, Tanner, 

35. Mirth I). Arnold, Glenville, 

36. Leopold Mathe, Pittsburg, Pa. 

37. W. H. Pattessen, Lima, W. Ya. 

38. M. 0. Westfall, Letter Gap, 

39. Otho Ford, Glenville, 

40. Mallie Haynes, Patrick, " 

41. James Hopkins, Creston, Wirt Co., " 

42. Stephen P. Honaker, Patrick, 

43. F. A. Weaver, Tanners, 

44. C. A. Stasel, Auburn, 

45. E. J. Shock, Rosedale, 

46. P. C. Leake, Teays, 

47. John L. Riddle, Normantown, " 

48. Austin J. Carnsfit, Cragsville, 

49. William McCune, Glenville, 

50. Jos. Horner, u " 

51. OtieJ. McVey, Hawksnest, 

52. J. L. Gill, Eva, 

53. P.M.Mick, Ellis, 



192 Public Addkesses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



54. Frank Miller, 

55. Homer A. Erven, 

56. Pat. Yanbibber, 

57. W. F. Floyd, 

58. H. E. Arbogast, 

59. AY alter Burton, 

60. Pink Burton. 

61. Mark. Springston. 

62. X. H. Patterson, 

63. George Puddle, 

64. Raymond E. Gough. 

65. H.H. Williams, 

66. Dan. Taylor, 

67. John Taylor, 

68. F. M. Williams, 

69. C. F. Greene, 

70. Frank Gather, 

71. Hornor Powell, 

72. 0. J. Gaines, 

73. Jas. H. Shock, 

74. Francisco Stump, 

75. M. M. Skinner, 

76. J. C. Moneypenny, 

77. Clinton Williams, 

78. Robt. Hathaway. 

79. A J. Osborn, 

80. Eugene Crites, 

81. Levi Swiger, 

82. A. W. Adams, 

83. Calvery Thompson, 

84. M. B. Elliott. 

85. H. W. Bush, 

86. Matthew Spencer, 

87. Newt. M. Woofter, 

88. Geo. R. Lynch, 

89. A. J. Kerns, 

90. Worthy Poling, 

91. Albert Poling, 

92. Allen Nichols, 

93. C. A. Isenhart, 

94. F. H. Johnson, 



Conings, W. Ya. 

Newberne, " 

Enon, " 

Glenville, " 

Leopold. Doddridge Co., " 

ct ct 

Troy, " 

Linn, " 
Troy, 

Glenville. " 

Lettergapp, " 

Napier, " 

Knawl, " 

Burnsville, M 

Glenville, " 

Tanners, " 

Rosed ale, " 

Glenville. " 

Ct ti 

Conings, " 

Auburn, " 

Sycamore, " 

Alice, " 

Auburn, " 

Burnsville. " 

Auburn, " 

HuiTicane, " 

Burnt House, " 

Rosedale, 11 

Frankford, " 
DeKalb, 

Glenville, " 

Tanner, " 

Millstone, " 

tt IC 

it it 

Glenville, <£ 



Gilmer County Sharpshooters. 



193 



yo. X\(JL)fc51l r . »V UUUJ alU, 


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UTltfll \ 111", 


W Va 

IT. > CI . 


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AUUIU 11, 


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105. J. D. W. Jones, Corp. 


Glenville, 


u 


106. John Sprouse, 


U 


a 


107. C. W. Cox, 


Ci 


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108. W. S. Osborne, 


Alice, 


a 


109. Gus. Shoup, 


Butler, Butler Co., 


Pa. 



GOVERNOR ATKINSON'S RESPONSE. 

State of West Virginia, 

Executive Chamber, 
Charleston, August 16, 1898. 
Captain D. U. O'Brien and others, 
Officers and Members of 

Co. "L", 2nd Regiment W. Va. Vol. Inf., 
"Camp Atkinson", 
Gentlemen:— 

I acknowledge receipt of your courteous request that my wife 
and I may become god-mother and god-father of your com- 
pany, and that we name the same. Replying to your petition, 
we beg to say that we most cheerfully accept the proffered 
honor, and name Company "L" "The Gilmer County Sharp- 
shooters." 

Knowing personally all of the officers and a goodly number 
of the private soldiers of your company, we are free to say 
that no better equipped company in both officers and men can 
be found in the volunteer army in the war with Spain. We are 
therefore safe in saying in advance of any active service by 
your company and regiment, that you, when the emergency 
times may come, will honor yourselves, your county and your 
State. 



194 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



In bivouac or in battle, you will have our prayers for your 
protection, and for your safe return to your homes and your 
fire-sides. May God's best blessings always attend you. 
Sincerely and truly your friends, 

Geo. W. Atkinson, 
Myra H. Atkinson. 



IRRIGATION, 

West Virginia's Governor Advocates the Reclamation of Arid 
America by Irrigation. Land enough for Gener- 
ations Yet to Come. 



August 20, 1898. 



(From The National Advocate, Oct. 1898.) 

"Every wise man agrees that be3 T ond the Mississippi lies the 
great wealth of the days to come. In the development of this 
wealth we are all interested, and we in the East are not the un- 
wise men to believe that we are not concerned in the progress 
and future of the West. 

"Hon. Thomas B. Reed, 
"Speaker of the House of Representatives." 



State of West Virginia, 

Executive Chamber, 

Charleston, August 20, 1898. 
Mr. George H. Maxwell, San Francisco, Cal. 

My Dear Sir: I desire to say, with emphasis, that I am in 
sympathy with your efforts to reclaim the arid territory of our 
great Republic by irrigation. I have traveled over millions of 
acres of our domain which are practically worthless for want of 
water. There is no shortage of water, but there is a shortage 
in its distribution. Nature supplies a sufficiency of water, but 
it is left for us to see that it is properly distributed. You are 



Sergeant Harry Morgan's Funeral. 



195 



doing the duty of a public benefactor in giving your best efforts 
to reclaim our waste territory. 

I agree with Speaker Reed, when he said: "Every wise man 
agrees that be3 r ond the Mississippi lies the great wealth of the 
days to come.'' No intelligent American can question the cor- 
rectness of that statement. The Mississippi Valley will ultim- 
ately be the granary of the Nation, because the arid fields west 
of that great water-course will some day "blossom as the rose" 
as a result of irrigation. Artificial water channels will produce 
forests with their attendant means of civilization, railways, tele- 
graph lines, etc., which will be followed by rainfalls that will 
bring settlers who will plow the ground and in this way aid na- 
ture to pour her waters upon the country and the people. 

If our arid lands can be reclaimed, we can, for generations to 
come, subsist all of our people upon them, and still have land 
to spare. This, in itself, should command the attention of our 
people; and it will, if you will stick to them, as I believe you are 
willing to do. 

I have appointed delegates to the Irrigation Congress, and 
have reason to believe that some of them will attend. I have 
personally urged upon them the importance of giving attention 
to this great movement, so that my State may have some share 
in its great consummation. 

I have the honor to be, 

Your most obedient servant, 

Geo. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of West Va. 



SERGEANT HARRY MORGAN'S FUNERAL. 

State of West Virginia, 
Executive Chember, 
Charleston, Sept. 1, 1898. 
To the Citizens of Charleston:— 

Sergeant Harry Morgan of the First West Virginia Volunteer 
Infantry is dead, and will be buried at five o'clock this after- 
noon from the Kanawha Presbyterian Church. Sergeant Mor- 
gan is the first soldier of our West Virginia troops from this 



196 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



section, in the present war, who has thus far departed this life. 
He offered his services to his Country in the war with Spain. 
He died a patriot's death. He is entitled to great considera- 
tion at the hands of our people. He should have a State fu- 
neral. This is impossible to carry out for want of time. It is 
due to him that the patriotic people of this city should attend 
his funeral this afternoon. I wish it were possible for the Grand 
Army Post and the Confederate Camp of Charleston to attend 
as bodies. It is proper that the business houses should close 
during the funeral hour. I hope this will be done. The State 
and City officials will attend as bodies. Our people knew Ser- 
geant Morgan, and all of them respected him in life. Now 
that he is dead, I hope they will attend his funeral at five o'clock 
this afternoon, as he gave his young life to the country he loved. 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor. 



ADDRESS 

of Governor G. W.Atkinson, at Wheeling, West Virginia, before 
the Ohio River Improvement Association. 

September 14, 1898. 



(From the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, Sept. 15, 1898.) 

Mr. President and Fellow Citizens:— 

I feel very much like the late General N. P. Banks, of Massa- 
chusetts, at that time a member of the 51st Congress, when a 
consideration of the financial affairs of the country was before 
a caucus of the political party to which he belonged. Said he, 
"Mr. Chairman, I don't know anything about the money prob- 
lem, and I therefore feel it to be my duty to make a speech upon 
the subject." I know very little about the great undertaking 
of locking and damming the Ohio river, and yet I, like General 
Banks, feel like saying a few words upon the subject. 

It has been assigned to me, my friends, by the Chamber of 
Commerce of this city, to welcome the members of this Asso- 



Improvement of the Ohio River. 



197 



ciation and their friends to the city of Wheeling and the State 
of West Virginia. We are rejoiced to have you among us. 
Wheeling is well known all over this country, and the world for 
that matter, and for a generation or more she has been known, 
not only as a manufacturing city, but also as a city of enter- 
prise and wealth. Just how the name of Wheeling originated 
none of us can tell; but all of us who reside here know that she 
never fails to wheel into line on every movement which tends to 
advance the interests of all classes and develop the intelligence 
and the resources of our great country. The only reason, my 
friends, why we have not grown into a great city, is because we 
had not enough level ground upon which to build it. For a 
half century we have kept in the swim of progress, and we are 
now only in the dawn of what we are yet to be. 

Again I say, Mr. President, on behalf of all our people, I wel- 
come the Ohio River Improvement Association as* distinguished 
guests, and I assure you, gentlemen, that everything will be 
done on the part of our people, to make your stay pleasant 
and, I trust, profitable as well. 

Mr. President, we have within West Virginia five hundred 
miles of navigable rivers, nearly two thousand miles of rail- 
roads, and no one can estimate the extent of our coal and coke 
and oil and gas and timber. It is the purpose of your organi- 
zation to make the Ohio river, which washes the border of our 
State for three hundred miles, more navigable and more useful. 

It is your aim, as an organization, by a system of locks and 
dams, to make this great natural artery of commerce a never 
failing public highway for heavy freights. The rivers of the 
Continent are the natural arteries through which the trade ©f 
the country is intended to pass; and it is therefore the duty of 
the people to improve these public highways in every way pos- 
sible, because all classes of citizens will thereby be benefitted. I 
am glad that this Association of enterprising men was formed 
for the purpose of interesting the government of the United 
States in the improvement of this great water way. 

It is believed by many, and I am one of them, that the Ohio 
Valley, in advantages and possibilities is the richest valley on 
the earth. In climate, in location, in soil, in coal, in iron, in 
salt, in oil, in gas, in timber, in water-power, in stone, and in 
enterprise, education and intelligence, it cannot easily be sur- 
passed. To slack the water of this great river would very 



198 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



soon cause it to be almost a continuous city of manufactures 
from Pittsburg to Cincinnati; and I hazard nothing when I say 
this will be done before another generation shall come and go. 

I find, Mr. President, that the United States government has 
appropriated up to this time $ 2, 330,000. 00 for the locking and 
damming of the Ohio river. Lock No. 1, knowu as "Davis 
Island Dam", a few miles below Pittsburg, was completed in 
1885. Since that time $1,330,000.00 has been appropriated 
by the General Government for the construction of locks 2, 3, 
4, 5, and 6, which, when completed, will slack the water, from 
forty to fifty miles below Pittsburg. Xo work has been done 
upon any of these locks, except to secure the titles to the land, 
except upon lock No. 6. If when No. 6 is completed, it would 
seem to me not to be a mistake, but the course of wisdom, to 
locate a dam in the vicinity of this city, and thus afford a pool 
for the benefit of the manufacturing interests of AVheeling and 
neighboring towns; and, as a matter of course, work could be 
carried along upon the dams farther up the river, while the im- 
provement is going on here. Locks 2, 3, 4, and 5 were skipped, 
and 6 was taken up, which affords a precedent, and it seems to 
me a sensible one, to next begin work upon a lock at Wheel- 
ing, and at the same time go on with the locks laid out 
above us. Now that the Government has taken hold of the 
work of improving this river in earnest, it should be pushed 
along with all possible speed. 

The tonnage on the Ohio, even in its present condition, is very 
great. The lock -tender at the Davis Island dam reported for 
1896, the passage up stream of 7,886 steamers and crafts, and 
down stream, 12,185, with atotal tonnageof 3,811,759 tons of 
heavy freights. The entire tonnage upon the river, exclusive of 
rafts and loose freights, for theyear 1896, amounted to 9,914,- 
435 actual tons, while the passengers carried on the river for 
that year numbered 1,223,296. The construction of one dam, 
it is evident, has added greatly to the traffic of the river. With 
twenty or thirty more of these locks and dams, the freightage 
would probably double every year. It is great now, but it is 
only in the dawn of w T hat it will be, under this system of im- 
provements, in the years that are to come. 

The Great Kanawha river, next to the Tennessee, the largest 
of the Ohio's tributaries, has been locked and dammed for one 
hundred miles. Before slack-water was introduced down there, 



Improvement of the Ohio River. 



199 



the commerce of that great valley, on the river, was compara- 
tively insignificant. Now it has reached nearly one and a-half 
million tons per year on the river alone, and is steadily on the 
increase. The tonnage upon the two railroads in that valley is 
about double the freightage upon the river; but the cheap rates 
upon the river, keep the tariff down upon the railroads to the 
smallest possible rates for all westward commerce. There are 
ten locks and dams upon that river— all completed but one, and 
it is practically finished— which cost the Government, in round 
numbers $4,000,000.00, and all business people will admit that 
this vast outlay is money well spent. Yast sums of money 
have been expended and are now being expended by "Uncle 
Sam" in all portions of our national domain upon our rivers, 
with the object of aiding in the development and improvement 
of the sections of country which they drain; and yet these great 
national improvements are still in their infancy. 

Thelocking and damming of the Kanawha was begun in 1873, 
and will be entirely completed the present fall. The permanent 
improvement of the Ohio was begun in the early 80 's, and let 
us hope that it will be completely finished within the next score, 
or twenty-five years at the farthest. 

The first moveable dams in America, in connection with slack 
water improvement, were built on the Great Kanawha river in 
this State. The usefulness and adaptability of moveable dams 
have been thoroughly established. Moveable dams are kept up 
during low stages and down during high water. Their advant- 
ages over the ordinary fixed dams for a commerce and river like 
the Ohio are very decided, as they furnish the benefits of the 
usual slack water without its most serious inconveniences and 
drawbacks. With fixed dams everything must pass through 
the locks. With them navigation is entirely suspended when 
the river is near to or above the lock walls. The difference be- 
tween the fixed and moveable dams in the scour and wash of 
the banks about the works, is also greatly in favor of the mod- 
ern type. 

With movable dams the locks are used only when the water 
in the river is so low as to make them necessary. At all other 
times the dams are kept lowered, practically on the river bot- 
tom and out of the way, affording unobstructed, open naviga- 
tion. This is a great advantage to all classes of commerce and 
especially for coal, which is always shipped in fleets. More 



200 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



barges can be transported by a towboat and much better time 
made in an open river than when it is made necessary to use 
the locks. 

The gauge record of the Great Kanawha river for the last 
twenty years, shows an average of 196 days in the year when 
there is five feet of water for open navigation, and 142 days 
when the average is six feet or more. From this it appears that 
coal can be shipped by open river about six months in the year, 
during which time the moveable dams will be down and unused. 
The remainder of the year, or when the river falls below a coal- 
boat stage, the dams are kept up, which affords an average 
available slack water depth of six feet all the year. 

It is well understood, Mr. President, that slack water transpor- 
tation affords the cheapest possible freight rates, especially when 
the haul is of great length. The freight on coal from Pittsburg to 
New Orleans will not average over one-fifteenth of one cent per 
ton per mile. The coal barges, considering their cost and 
length of life, are cheap carriers. They cost from one to two 
thonsand dollars each and last about ten years. One of these 
barges carry anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 bushels, or from 
400 to 700 tons of coal, which would be equal to a train of 25 to 
30 cars of 20 tons each. In open navigation on the Big Kanawha, 
a towboat handles from four to fourteen loaded barges, depend- 
ing, of course, on the stage of the river and the size of the tow- 
boat. Tn the Ohio River, from the mouth of the Kanawha 
down, the towboats take from 14 to 34 barges each. A fleet of 
30 barges carries about 400,000 bushels, or about 16,000 tons, 
which, if loaded into 20 ton cars, would make 30 trains of 26 
cars each, or a continuous line of cars nearly six miles long. I 
mention these facts simply to emphasize the importance of im- 
proving the navigation of the Ohio river in order to afford 
cheap freight rates, which will be an advantage to the consumer 
as well as to the producer, and will redound to the benefit of all 
the people. 

The Ohio, my friends, is a National water way. As it sweeps 
past our homes in its meandering way to the sea, it does not 
tell of Pennsylvanioa, or Ohio, or West Virginia, or Kentucky, 
or Indiana, or Illinois. While, in a sense, it may sing a song of 
these great States; but above and beyond them all, it tells the 
story of a Nation united, of a country that all of us love, a 
country with one Constitution and one flag, a country of peace 



LaFayette Day. 



201 



and at peace with all the earth, a country with one aim and 
destiny, a country united and under God, one and indivisible 
now and forever. 

And see the rivers how they run 

Through woods and meads, in shades and sun, 

Sometimes swift, sometimes slow — 

Wave succeeding wave, they go 

A various journey to the deep, 

Like human life to endless sleep. 

Again I welcome you to Wheeling, and bid you God-speed in 
your work. (Applause.) 



LAFAYETTE DAY. 

Views of Governor Atkinson relative to Lafayette Day. 

State of West Virginia, 

Executive Department, 
Charleston. 

A PROCLAMATION BY THE GOVERNOR. 

It being proposed to signalize the participation of the United 
States in the Paris Exposition of 1900 by the erection in Paris 
in the name of the youth of the United States, of a monument to 
General LaFayette, the same to be unveiled and dedicated July 
fourth, United States Day, at the Exposition; 

And it being proposed that the means necessary for the build- 
ing of such a memorial shall be secured by popular contribu- 
tions from the people of America, through the agency of the 
schools and colleges of the United States; 

And to the end that the benefits of this work may fall largely 
to our children and young people, in the attraction of their 
minds to a study of the great historic characters and events of 
the early days of our Republic, I, George W. Atkinson, Gover- 
nor of the State of West Virginia, do designate October 19th, 
1898, as LaFayette Day in all the Schools of this State, public, 



202 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



private and parochial, and that a portion of that day be devo- 
ted to exercises appropriate to the occasion and the story of 
our struggle for liberty told anew to our children. 

Done at the City of Charleston, this 27th day 
[Seal.] of September, A.D., 1898, and in the thirty-fifth 
year of the State. 

G. W. Atkinson, 
By the Governor: Governor. 
W. M. 0. Dawson, 
Secretary of State. 



W. VA. SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. 

Oration of Governor G. W. Atkinson, LL. D. at the Dedication 
of the West Virginia Soldiers' Monument 
at Gettysburg, Pa. 



Sept. 28, 1898. 



My countrymen, we come to-day to pay homage to the hero- 
es of West Virginia who gave up their lives upon this historic 
battle-field. Herein this city of the dead, under the shadows of 
these trees where shot and shell once rained like hail, the State 
of West Virginia has erected these monuments we now conse- 
crate to the memories of those whose bones are quietly repos- 
ing beneath the sward upon which the feet of living and loving 
friends are standing now. The State, by this mark of respect 
to a splendid manhood, honors itself. No granite or marble 
shaft, no tomb of ancient or modern splendor, and no play of 
genius immortal can adorn the memories of the soldiers who 
sleep upon the slopes of Gettysburg. Their deeds are their 
monuments which will keep their names enshrined in the hearts 
of patriotic men and women, that will endure for generations 
after the letters upon these granite rocks shall be dimmed by the 
rust and dust of the years which in God's good time shall come 
and go. The fidelity of the unswerving patriotism of these dead 



W. Va. Soldiers' Monument at Gettysburg. 



203 



soldiers, the unsullied characters they bore, and their undaunt- 
ed courage, have written their names in enduring* characters 
upon the brightest pages of immortal record. 

These soldiers, my friends, were a type of that sterling man- 
hood which wrought Virginia and the Nation. They were a 
noble representative of the type of men who won this, the fore- 
most battle of our times and of all times. A nation is not 
made by constitutions or laws or systems or classes or creeds. 
It is made by men— men of intelligence, of courage, of industry, 
of loyalty to principle, of patriotism, of morals and of love. 
These constitute a State. These are the elements in men that 
make a government and bring deathless glory to its history. 
The men who sleep upon these slopes to-day, where weeping- 
willows kiss the sun and the gentle winds sing lulaby's unceas- 
ing, are the sort of men who make governments and nations 
that cannot be wrecked by internal shocks or external foes, but 
will endure through coming time — forever. 

On this blood-red field of Gettysburg the soldiers of the Union 
held and kept the key to the Nation's life; the key that must 
unlock her immortal destiny in the a^ons yet to come. They 
stood in the forefront of the nation's life, and enveloped in a storm 
of fire and death, fulfilled a mighty destiny. On this glad day 
and in this splendid presence, these dead heroes live again. On 
the most heroic page of history they breathe and move and 
live. They are immortal in the deep splendor of the flag that 
is crimsoned with their blood. They are incarnate in the hearts 
of our West Virginia people whose homes grace our hill-sides 
and mountain crests rock-ribbed and towering in the sunlight. 
Ay, my countiwmien, they will live down through the centuries 
while history lasts, and until men cease to honor valor, which 
will never be while men and women live who reverence patriot- 
ism, manhood, courage and loyalty to principle and the right. 

These times, my fellow citizens, in which we live are lively 
times. Men get recognition for what they do and are. A sur- 
prise like Dewey's, a victory like Schley's and Shafter's and 
Wheeler's, and a daring deed likeHobson's a,re noted by all the 
people and due credit is given to one and all. Men now do not 
have to scramble for the honors justly due them, as it was in 
the times of yore. If a patriot wins a victory or scuttles a ship, 
the masses climb over one another to honor him for his deed of 
valor or the victory he wins. It was not so at Salamis or 



204 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



Thermopylae or Platea or Trafalgar, but it is so now; and it is 
right that it is thus. I rejoice that now-a-days our soldiers 
and sailors receive due credit for what they do, and they do not 
have to wait until they are dead to have their praises sung. 
Fresh flowers are strewn along their pathways while they live, 
and are not strewn alone upon their graves after they are gone. 
This is right— forever right. These soldiers whose memories we 
honor to-day fought, bled and died for principle, and our spirit 
of justice teaches us to perpetuate their memories by granite 
shafts, and by words of commendation which the people ought 
to heed. 

The soldier of 1861 was the ideal soldier of all history. On 
more than one occasion I have done, as best I could, full justice 
to the men of all ranks who participated in that fratricidal con- 
flict. There clusters around them a halo of enduring light. 
There is something in the men who heard the guns at Sumpter 
in their enormous reverberations, and appreciated in some 
measure the terrible importance of the awful shock, and hasten- 
ed to accept the gage of war and meet the shock of battle. 
They did not enquire the rate of compensation or what pensions 
they were to receive. They shouldered their muskets as did the 
men at Lexington and Concord shouldered theirs, and marched 
with a purpose and determination as heroic as were the sacri- 
fices of the men at Valley Forge and Yorktown and Bunkerhill. 
With our flag preserved, our country united, man liberated and 
God honored, this Imperial Nation will never cease to cherish 
the memories of these men. 

It is not great wealth, it is not so-called royal blood, it is not 
learning or official position that makes true manhood. It is a life 
of noble deeds, of true merit, of unselfish devotion to the unseen 
and to family and home, and a walk and conversation void of 
offense that constitute true worth. These soldiers possessed 
many, if not all of these virtues, and this is why we add our 
tributes to their worth. They are no longer among the living, 
but our loss, we trust, has been their gain. They rest from 
their labors. They have gone to reap the reward of those who, 
w r hile living, loved their country and their fellow T men. With 
such all must be well, not only in this mortal life, but in the 
higher and nobler life beyond the tomb. Let us, my country- 
men not forget that duty and death ennoble all men, and by 
their virtues our dead comrades have been ennobled and exalt- 



W. Ya. Soldiers' Monument at Gettysburg. 205 



ed beyond our ability to follow them. We are their witnesses. 
It is for us to tell the story of their deeds to the generations 
that shall follow. It is for us. upon every proper occasion, to 
speak their praises, and to commemorate in every appropriate 
way the virtues and sacrifices of the men who bore an honorable 
part, however conspicuous or obscure, in the day of our Coun- 
try's greatest trial and of its supreme deliverance. A grateful 
Nation will hold them in cherished remembrance, and the exam- 
ple of their patriotism will ever remain the pride and emulation 
of their countrymen for generations to be. 

The impressive lessons, my friends, that always find their 
way to honest hearts concerning life and duty, have been abun- 
dantly suggested and have found expression in the more expres- 
sive language of song and prayer and of Holy Scripture. No 
long exhortations can deepen or enhance what is borne in upon 
our souls so solemnly and affectingly. The spirit of duty 
stands at the head of one's bier and the spirit of love at its foot, 
and they point us to the noble dead as worthy to be leaders 
still along the paths of devoted and patriotic lives. 

The older ages were distinguished by contrasting extremes of 
human character and destiny. God seemed not to care except 
for mighty men, and to use mankind as but a base soil out of 
which to grow heroes. AVe have now entered a new age, a sec- 
ond act in this drama of the Divine purposes. Now the word 
has gone forth from the Throne to "make a highway for the 
people." "Every mountain shall be made low and every valley 
shall be exalted," not to secure the level of mediocrity, but the 
grade of the sublime. 

But, my friends, we have had another war since these soldiers 
fell. We Americans love peace, and while our war with Spain 
has cost us many lives and a vast amount of money, it is worth 
to the living all that it has cost. It has cemented our people 
in closer bonds of unison and love. In this Avar our greatest 
heroes came from the South as well as the North. While Cap- 
tain Evans seemingly swore profanely, Captain Phillip prayed, 
and the people from Maine to Florida, in one glad acclaim cried 
"Amen". With 16,000 of our soldiers, under Shafter and 
Wheeler at Santiago, 24,000 Spanish prisoners were captured, 
which makes the ratio of American valor 16 to 24. A Spanish 
General telegraphed to Madrid, "We met the Americans and de- 
feated them, but they persisted in fighting, and we were com- 



206 Public Addkesses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



pelled to retire from the field." West Virginia furnished two 
full regiments for the Spanish war, and our boys are broken, 
hearted because peace came before they could get to the front; 
and so it is all over our country. The great Republic could 
have furnished ten million warriors had their services been 
needed to defend our flag. These men went forth not for greed 
or gain, but to aid a suffering and oppressed race in their strug- 
gles for the liberties which we ourselves enjoy. All honor to 
these patriots! All honor to the South as well as to the North! 

Once again the tents are standing 

In the shadows of the trees, 
And the banner waving o'er them 

Greets with joy the morning breeze; 
Aye, from ocean shore to ocean 

There's a blue, unbroken line, 
And the crests of the Talmetto 

Bend toward the crests of Pine. 

No more strife between the sections, 

All is love and peace to-day; 
Gettysburg seems but a vision, 

And Bull Run is far away; 
Tramp, tramp, tramp, beneath "Old Glory" 

Comes a long, heroic line, 
And there meet above the muskets 

The Palmetto and the Pine. 

On the plains of Chickamaugua 

Camp our heroes side by side, 
And the starry flag is waving 

Where Columbia's children died; 
But united 'gainst oppression 

North and South their powers combine 
And the drum stirs the Palmetto 

And the bugle thrills the Pine. 

Tiet the foeman who oppose us 

Bead their doom on lines of steel; 
The oppressors of fair Cuba 

Shall Columbia's vengeance feel; 
She will crown the living victors, 

For the brave her hands will t wine 
The Boughs of the Palmetto 

With the branches of the Pine. 

And now, my countrymen, in the name and oh behalf of the 
people of my State, I dedicate these monuments to the surviv- 
ing soldiers of West Virginia in the war of the Rebellion, and 
to their children and their children's children forever. (Pro- 
longed applause.) 

My fellow citizens, I desire to return my thanks especially to 
the officers of the Seventh West Virginia Organization, and to 



Hispano-American War. 



207 



one and all who have rendered friendly aid in the construction 
of these enduring* monuments. For their energy and enter- 
prise in this great undertaking, they are entitled to enduring- 
praise. 

I thank you for your attention. 



HISPANO-AMERICAN WAR. 

Governor Atkinson's Opinion of the Hispano-American War. 



November 9, 1898. 



(From the Review of Reviews, December, 1898.) 

Albert Shaw, Esq., 

Editor "Review of Reviews", 

No. 13 Astor Place, 

New York. 

My Dear Sir: 

Replying to your courteous letter of the 7th inst., I will state 
my views briefly: 

The results of the war with Spain cannot be other than grati- 
fying to every American citizen. Our soldiers and seamen, on 
land and sea, have brought new glories to the great Republic. 
Our triumph in every engagement was beyond our expectations. 
We knew that our soldiers and seamen, and our people general- 
ly, in education and intelligence, and, indeed, in all that goes 
to make up real manhood, were far superior to the Spaniards. 
Still, it seems almost incredible that we should sweep them 
down in the manner that we did. The result of this .war has 
given a wonderful uplift to humanity everywhere. The great 
Nations of the world must, of necessity, hereafter have greater 
respect for their subjects, and must yield to them broader liber- 
ties. The trend of the times is in the direction of general educa- 
tion and universal freedom. 

We were only allowed to furnish two regiments of West Vir- 
ginia Infantry Volunteers, of thirteen hundred and twenty-six 



208 Public Addresses, Sec, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



officers and men each. I could have furnished twenty-five regi- 
ments of Volunteers as easily as two. Our people literally 
climbed over one another to enlist in the Volunteer Army. Our 
first regiment was mainly organized out of our State Militia. 
All of the officers of that regiment were men of several years ex- 
perience and training in our National Guard. The second regi- 
ment was mainly made up outside of our State troops. The 
officers of this regiment, however, were almost in every instance 
taken from graduates from Military Schools, and men who had 
had experience as officers of our State Militia. A large number 
of the private soldiers in each regiment were also graduates of 
Military Schools, and many of them were members of the State 
Guard, and were, therefore, well drilled men. Without boast- 
ing, I can say that our two West Virginia regiments are made 
up of as brave, manly and well educated men as ever shoulder- 
ed a musket or unsheathed a sword. Our people, without re- 
gard to politics, are therefore proud of the prowess of our two 
West Virginia regiments. I will add also that politics were 
totally ignored in the make up of these regiments. A.s governor, 
I appointed as many officers from the Democratic party as from 
the Kepublican organization, to which I have the honor to be- 
long. In this war with Spain we were all Americans, not par- 
tisans. Our mountaineers are natural patriots and natural 
soldiers as well. Although our conflict with Spain was short, it 
was marvelously decisive. History will register it, unqualified- 
ly, as one of the wonderful wars of the Centuries. 

I have the honor to be, 

Your Most obedient servant, 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of W^est Virginia. 



Boyhood Days. 



209 



BOYHOOD DAYS. 

Governor Atkinsons Estimate of His Boyhood Days. 
November 18, 1898. 



State of West Virginia, 
Executive Chamber, 
Charleston, November 18, 1898. 

Miss Annabel Lee, 

No. 131 Post Street, 

San Francisco, Cal., 
Dear Friend:— 

Replying- to your inquiry, I beg to say that I was reared on 
a farm. My father owned about one thousand acres of land in 
my boyhood, and it took a number of persons to cultivate it 
and keep the fences and houses in repair. I was set to work 
early in life, and was not allowed my choice about it. I inher- 
ited an industrious tendency from my mother, and it was, there- 
fore, not difficult to keep me employed. I can not remember a 
time that I did not enjoy activity. The fact is, from early 
boyhood, I have been almost constantly at some sort of work. 
I have recently turned fifty, and I do not belive it can be said of 
me that I was ever an idler, even for a week of my entire career. 
My whole life, thus far, has been of the pack-mule sort, and I 
really enjoy it. I can account for this only by heredity, as I 
have stated. 

1 was sent to school early in life, and somehow I enjoyed 
study also. From my sixth year, up to the time I entered col- 
lege at nineteen, I spent an average of five months in school 
every year. The country "school-master", in those days, ad- 
vanced pupils more rapidly than now. I remember being put 
entirely through "Ray's Third Part Arithmetic" in one term, 
and carried four other studies besides; and I was required to be 
proficient in all of them. Nor was there any "cramming" 
about it, either. I can say in all candor that my text-books 
were thoroughly assimilated. I wish it were possible to require 
such school work by our children now-a-days. 



210 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



When I was not in school I was at work on the farm, and 
even w T hile at school, I was required to steadily toil mornings 
and evenings at farm labor. My father was also engaged in 
the lumber business, for many years, and I worked at that, 
driving teams — oxen and horses. This was a happy "rest" 
from farm work, and was very helpful to me in bringing into 
use different sets of muscles, which gave me physical develop- 
ment that has served me a good purpose in subsequent life. 
These two occupations, coupled with athletics, which I prac- 
ticed for years, gave me a whipcord muscle that has never left 
me. I grew to good stature, and every muscular fiber was 
trained, thus making me physically very strong, and of the en- 
during kind. In these modern times, the few, and not the 
many boys, pay but little attention to physical development. 
This is a great mistake. 

My parents were religious people, and they saw to it that I 
was taught good morals and proper conceptions of religion. 
I shall never cease to thank them for this. Impressions made 
along these lines upon my mind are with me yet, and always 
will remain. 

Before I entered college, I had one year's experience as a clerk 
in my fathers's dry goods store, and also one year as a deputy 
under my father who was "high sheriff" of my native county, 
Kanawha, Virginia. These two years were invaluable to me in 
giving me an opportunity to mix with men and study human 
nature. 

My next experience was as a student in a University, from 
which I graduated with a fairly good grade. I then took up 
the profession of law, and have pursued it assiduously to the 
present day. For eleven years, I was editor of a weekly news- 
paper, which did not interfere with my law business, and which 
also opened to me new avenues of training and experience. My 
purpose, all the while, was to be steadily employed, and make 
the best headway possible in acquiring knowledge. In early 
life I cultivated a taste for reading books in a systematic way, 
and shall always keep it up. Habits of thought and study are 
as easily formed as those that debase and destroy. I have en- 
deavored to form such habits as will make me stronger and 
better and wiser, and hope to keep them up through the re- 
mainder of my days. 

I have been in politics a good deal, and have filled several ini- 



First Message to the Legislature. 



211 



portant offices, notably Member of Congress, United States 
Marshal, and Governor of my native State. 

I look back over my boyhood days on the farm with no 
small degree of pleasure. I could fill a book with recollections 
of those "good old times of yore". And let me add that, in 
my judgment, the country is the place for all boys to begin in- 
dustrious and successful careers. The plow and the hoe, "down 
on the farm", make one physically strong, and if he, on arriv- 
ing at manhood, will assert himself and rely on himself and 
stick to his avocation faithfully, the "town boys" will always 
be distanced by the "yoker" from the fields. 

Very truly yours, 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of West Virginia. 



FIRST MESSAGE. 

Governor Atkinson 's First Message to the Legislature. 



January 11, 1899. 



Executive Department, "I 
State of West Virginia, } 
Charleston, January 11, 1899. J 
Gentlemen op the Senate and House of Delegates: 

The Constitution of the State of West Virginia makes it in- 
cumbent upon me, as the Chief Executive, to submit for your 
consideration a careful statement of the financial affairs and 
other operations of the State government, together with such 
recommendations for the future government and welfare of the 
State, as may be justified by existing circumstances. 

It is very gratifying to me to be able to assure you that the 
State is rapidly developing, and that the people in surrounding 
commonwealths are coming within our borders to avail them- 
selves of the wonderful advantages with which a beneficent 
Providence has lavishly endowed us. In coal, oil, gas and tim- 



212 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



ber, West Virginia is easily the first of all the states of the 
Union. For a number of years we have held first place in the 
production of oil and gas, second place in coke, and last year 
we forged ahead of our sister State of Ohio, and took third 
place in the output of coal. Having upwards of nine million 
acres of virgin forests, it is readily to be seen that we must be 
given first rank as to timber resources. It is only within a few 
years past that West Virginia began, in real earnest, to open 
up her marvelous natural resources, and I hazard nothing when 
I say that it is only a matter of a very few years for her to 
reach the forefront in wealth and enterprise among all the 
States. 

In these years of drive and push and enterprise and close com- 
petition, the contest for success, in all business undertakings 
must ultimately narrow down to the survival of the fittest. 
The State that has the general investment of natural resources 
and ad va ntages in the raw materials, which are the bases of all 
that go to make wealth, is the one that will, of necessitj^ win 
out in the end. We have double, or more, coal area than 
Pennsylvania, which is now our only actual competitor in the 
production of the "dusky diamond" that is greater in value 
than the gems of Golgonda or the sparkling jewels of South 
Africa or Peru; therefore, it will require but a few years for our 
State to supplant Pennsylvania in the production of coal. The 
best quality of any article which can be purchased in sufficient 
quantities, will necessarily be in constant demand. We not 
only have the best quality of all coals and coke in the Republic, 
but we have a greater area of acreage; how, then, can we fail to 
take first place? This is true also of oil, timber and gas. I 
conclude, therefore, that our future as a State is a bright one, 
and our present prosperity is but a mere harbinger of what is 
yet to come. 

Our population has gone beyond the million mark, and peo- 
ple from other States are coming to us rapidly. Our public 
schools are of a high order, and our laws are properly and 
vigorously enforced. Taxes in West Virginia are not exces- 
sive — therefore the advantages we are offering the people to 
come among us can not be surpassed by any other State. 

We have one advantage over every other State in the Repub- 
lic, and that is, we have no State debt, nor can we, under our 
present Constftution, ever create one. This is worthy of the 



First Message to the Legislature. 



213 



thoughtful consideration of every business man who has money 
to invest. 

FINANCIAL SITUATION. 

For a detailed condition of our financial affairs for the past 
two years, I respectfully refer you to the biennial reports of the 
Auditor and Treasurer. These reports are full and complete, 
and give, with carefulness, every item of receipt and expendi- 
ture. 

At the close of the fiscal year which ended October 31, 1898, 
the balances in the treasury to the credits of the different funds 
were as follows: 

State Fund, $421,641.17 

General School Fund, .... 367,026.10 
School Fund (Uninvested) . . . 271,193.21 
Makingatotal balance in the treasury of $1,062,860.48. 
In addition to the above, we have the healthy sum of the in- 
vested School Fund, amounting to $656,800.00, which is a part 
of the cash assets of the State. 

I may also add, and it affords me pleasure to be able so to 
do, that the amount disbursed for school purposes during the 
last two years was greater than ever before for the same period, 
and that during the preceding corresponding period, the school 
fund was increased nearly $100,000. On the whole, our finan- 
cial condition as a State is most gratifying. 

THE WAR WITH SPAIN. 

Since your honorable body last assembled, our country has 
been thrust into a war with Spain. Spain is one of the oldest 
of the existing monarchies. Her age made her arrogant. She 
seemed to believe that she could do as she pleased. For many 
years past she has engaged in different wars to subjugate and 
tyranize her subjects on the island of Cuba. The Cubans, like 
all other people, felt that they ought to be free, and be allowed 
to rule themselves and shape their own destinies. Spain, the 
mother country, thought otherwise. A war of subjugation re- 
cently ensued, which continued for more than three years. 
Thousands and tens of thousands of helpless men, women and 
children, as a result, perished from neglect and starvation. 
The Government of the United States, which for more 



214 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Or. W. Atkinson. 



than one hundred years had been conducted upon the high 
plane of freedom and Christianity, advised greater liberties for 
the Cubans, but without avail. The old monarchy continued 
to tighten, instead of lessen, her grip upon the inhabitants of 
this, one of the most fertile islands of the seas. Meantime our 
country was patient, forbearing and conservative. At last one 
of our battleships — the Maine — was sunk by a submarine mine 
in Havana harbor by a Spanish assassin, and two hundred and 
sixty-six of our marines w r ent down to watery graves. This 
was the tocsin of war. Our people rose as one man, and de- 
manded the freedom of the struggling Cubans. Under God and 
the strong arm of the United States, they were made free. The 
war lasted but a few short months. Spain went to the rear — 
the United States, as the friend of liberty, came to the front. 
God Almighty was behind the scene. In this conflict, brief as it 
was, humanity received the greatest uplift that the world has 
experienced since the Christ was born. The human family were 
intended originally to be free. Slavery crept in. The world 
moved on. It was never intended that one man should own 
another. But nevertheless men were made slaves. God never 
intended it to be so ; but it has been thus for six thousand 
years. It will not be thus much longer. There comes a time, 
and it is not far distant, when all men will own themselves. 
The war with Spain proves the correctness of this statement. 
The decree is patent to all that serfdom and slavery must go. 
They are creatures of the past. The ' mew dispensation," under 
which we live is forever against such barbarity. Spain has 
gone, and the civilized world would rejoice all the more if she 
were wiped forever off the map of modern civilization and the 
world. As an uplift to humanity throughout the earth, the 
value to mankind cannot be estimated of the defeat of Spain by 
the United States, a government by the people, of the people 
and for the people. The educated masses of mankind must, 
and will, be with our country and against Spain in the latter's 
effort to subjugate the Cubans. We were right— forever right, 
and Spain was wrong — forever wrong. 

TEMPORARY LOANS. 

Under Section 26 of Chapter 14 of the Code, re-enacted by 
Chapter 44, Acts of 1882, I borrowed from different banks in 
the State, the sum of $ 28,000, to meet the necessary expenses 



First Message to the Legislature. 



215 



in furnishing two regiments of volunteer soldiers called for by 
the President to meet the emergency of the Spanish war. I 
took this course rather than to call the Legislature together to 
make the necessary appropriations for such purpose, which it 
doubtless would have promptly done. This course was taken 
as an emergency measure to save the State unnecessary ex- 
pense. The Government, under the Act of Congress calling for 
volunteers, will refund the larger part of this expense. The nec- 
essary vouchers have been forwarded to the Secretary of War, 
and the money will be forthcoming at an early day. 

Under this same section, I borrowed $6,000 for the Second 
Hospital for the Insane, and $10,000 for the State penitentiary 
at Mounds ville. The reports of these two institutions fully ex- 
plain why it was necessary for these two loans to be secured. 

THE STATE MILITIA. 

This subject is one of paramount importance, as the policy of 
the founders of our Government evidently intended to rely upon 
a citizen volunteer soldiery for its main defense. There should 
always be an organized, armed, equipped and trained body of 
these citizens in every State, ready to respond to any call of its 
chief executive. This body of men should be trained and equipped 
on the same line as the regular army, and armed as well as the 
regular army. This done we will have always an insurance 
against trouble at home or abroad. 

There is a movement now making with a view of inducing the 
general government to assist the National Guard with more 
liberal appropriations. A convention of military men, including 
the Adjutant Generals of many of the States was recently held in 
the city of Chicago, and they by concerted action appealed to 
the general government for greater help in the way of money 
and assistance. With this movement I am in profound sympa- 
thy. The National Guard of West Virginia has done well in the 
late war, having responded promptly to the call for troops, and 
shown great eagerness to be of service to the common coun- 
try. 

The First Regiment, which I am informed, has few equals in 
the service, took a majority of our officers and men from our 
Guard. They are excellent soldiers, and I am proud of them. 
The Second Regiment also had many officers and men who were 
taken from the Guard, but on the whole, this Regiment was 



216 Public Addresses, &C., of Gov. G. W. Atkinsox. 



more generally drawn from the unorganized militia, the great 
reserve of the people. This is a Regiment of which I am also 
justly proud. They have an excellent name, which I learn from 
the officers commanding them— brigade, division and corps 
commanders. It was necessary to hold back in the State a 
portion of the National Guard, and those who had to remain 
at home, though desirous of going into service, have shown 
that "they also serve who only stand and wait." And their 
readiness and patriotism are highly appreciated by me, and by 
the people as well. 

Under General George W. Curtin the reorganization of the 
Guard has proceeded well, and we have now a force sufficient to 
uphold the law, if required, in any ordinary emergency. It is 
my desire to see the National Guard of West Virginia equal to 
any similar Guard in the country, not for show, but for service, 
and the Adjutant General and other officers in authority have 
the same aspiration, and are working to this end. 

While the Militia Law passed by the last Legislature is, in the 
main, a good bill, there arefaults in it that should be corrected. 
The Law provides, in section 44, page 1(3, that "all expenses 
incurred in active service shall be paid by the Treasurer of the 
State out of any monies not otherwise appropriated." When 
it became necessary to expend more monies in collecting at a 
rendezvous the National Guard, and organizing therefrom, un- 
der the call of the President, a regiment of volunteers, the 
Auditor ruled that there was no money available for the pur- 
pose, "there was no money in the treaury, not otherwise appro- 
priated." I was, therefore, obliged to borrow money from 
banks to carry out the orders of the President, thus putting 
the State to the expense of interest payment thereon. 

It is expedient that the Legislature should provide in the gen- 
eral appropriation bill an appropriation to beheld in the treas- 
ury or State depositories, of say, twenty thousand dollars, 
subject to the orders of the Governor for the contingeencies of 
war, or riot, or in other cases where the use of troops may be- 
come necessary to carry out and enforce the law . 

One other point to which I desire to call 3 T our attention, is the 
fact that the Adjutant General's office having been caused con- 
siderable annoyance, and the transaction of business having 
been seriously delayed by the question raised by the late brigade 
commander as to his rank and authority, in reference to the 



First Message to the Legislature. 



217 



authority and rights of the Adjutant General of the State, it 
seems necessary for the prompt transaction of business, that 
this matter should be definitely settled, and, as the Judge Ad- 
vocate General and the Attorney General have decided that the 
Adjutant General is of right the superior officer of the two, it 
is deemed easier to settle this question by raising the rank of 
the Adjutant General, than by otherwise amending the law. 
The Adjutant General should be a Major General as he is in 
Ohio and many other States, and he should be plainly indicated 
as chief of staff, and as holding the place next to the Com- 
mander-in-Chief, as the Secretary of War holds next to the 
President, who is Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy 
of the United States. 

There are at least 125,000 men between 18 and 45 who are un- 
der our law subject to military duty as fighting men of West 
Virginia, and the Adjutant General is the legal head and or- 
ganizer of this great force, in addition to his relations to the 
National Guard, which is the organized militia of the State. 

I, therefore, ask at your hands the passage of a bill that will 
meet these emergencies and harmonize the inconsistencies and 
differences which will, no doubt, be apparent to all of you. 

Our State Guard is of inestimable value to the prosperity, 
growth and good name of our State, and we should leave noth- 
ing undone to make this great arm of the law more effective in 
the future than it has been in the past. Our young men are 
willing to render any service in their power, at the command of 
the Chief Executive, to place West Virginia in the front rank of 
the most law-abiding States in the Union. We should, there- 
fore, deal with them liberally and properly, because in emergen- 
cies we must implicitly rely upon them as the main factors in 
enforcing the law when unforeseen troubles may arise. In my 
humble judgment, you can not be too liberal with this arm of 
the public service. 

THE STATE UNIVERSITY. 

This, the leading educational institution of our State, under 
its present management is enjoying marvelous growth and 
prosperity. It has rounded up its thirtieth year of existence. 
There were but six college students within its walls the year it 
started out upon its great mission. For the college year of 
1897-8, it had, in all of its departments, 874 students. The 



218 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinsox. 



preceding year, the total enrollment was 465. This shows an 
actual growth, in one year, of nearly one hundred per cent. 
Such advancement, in so short space of time, is nothing short 
of phenomenal. It is perhaps, the most promising State Uni- 
versity in the entire country. Every West Virginian should 
justly feel proud of the wonderful headway it is making. 

The new president, Dr. Jerome H. Raj-mond, is a young man, 
highly educated, full of energy and enthusiasm, and thoroughly 
imbued with the spirit of his high calling. He has given to the 
institution his best endeavors, and if properly encouraged by 
the Legislature and the people, he will bring great prominence 
to our University. This, I firmly believe, will be given him. I 
sincerely hope that your honornble body will be liberal in ap- 
propriations to this institution. 

The report of the Board of Regents is so complete in details 
that I do not deem it necessary to say more relative to the 
University. I may add, however, that the Board of Regents is 
non-partisan, and that politics have been thoroughly divorced 
from the institution. Xo professor shall be dismissed from the 
University simply because he is a Democrat, nor shall one be 
employed for no other reason than that he is a Republican, if I 
can prevent it. 

The Board of Regents, which is composed of the biggest, 
brainiest and broadest men in the State, are thoroughly in 
sympathy with this principle, and are doing their very best 
to place the school upon the highest possible plane of useful- 
ness. 

OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

• For more than a generation I have carefully watched the op- 
erations of our public schools, and I do not hesitate to say that 
I regard them the bulwark of our liberties, and as an infallible 
gauge to the growth, progress and development of the State. 
The better the public school, the better the citizen. Money ex- 
pended in the public education of the people is money saved in 
the enforcement of the law. The more school teachers we have, 
the fewer police officers will be necessary. A dollar expended in 
educating young people, is two dollars saved in the criminal ex- 
penses of the State. There can, therefore, be no question as to 
the wisdom of a system of education, in the ordinary English 
branches, at the expense of the public treasury. 



First Message to the Legislature. 



219 



The report of the State Superintendent of Public Schools is so 
exhaustive, that I need not say more on this subject. 

NORMAL SCHOOLS. 

Our seven Normal Schools are all in a flourishing condition. 
They were better attended last year than in any other year of 
their existence, and I am persuaded that the corps of teachers 
gets better every year. The Board of Regents have given a 
large amount of attention to their duties since I have been in 
office, and so far as I am able to judge, have rendered faithful 
service to the State. 

Since 1870 20,978 pupils have been enrolled in these several 
Normal Schools, and 1,547 have been graduated. To say the 
least, this is a wonderful work in the making of good, intelli- 
gent citizens, and in moulding character for the years that are 
to come. 

I beg here to renew the suggestion made in my inaugural ad- 
dress, that the law relative to our Normal Schools be so chang- 
ed as to give us one distinctive, real Normal institute, with a 
curriculum which will enable us, as a State, to teach teachers 
how to teach, which we term real pedagogy. Our Normals at 
this time are little more than high grade academies. A slight 
change of the law would make one of the seven schools a Nor- 
mal school, for teachers alone to enter, and all the others would 
become feeders to it. This, unquestionably, was the original 
intention of the law, and I hope, therefore, that you will give 
due consideration to this suggestion. 

THE WEST VIRGINIA COLORED INSTITUTE. 

This institution, established by the wise foresight of the State, 
assisted by the General Government, is intended to bear the 
same relation to our colored people that the University at 
Morgantown bears to the white people. To accomplish the ends 
for which the school was established, it is necessary that it be 
fostered and encouraged by appropriate legislation and adequ- 
ate financial assistance. 

The School has a regular cadet company, properly uniformed 
and armed by the State. I, therefore, recommend that chapter 
45, sections 82 and 83 of the Codebe madeto apply to the West 
Yirginia Colored Institute. 



220 Public Addresses, &c, oe Gov. 0. W. Atkinson. 



The crowded condition of the boys' department, renders a new 
building necessary. The main building is too small for the 
growing needs of the School, and an appropriation should, 
therefore, be made to enlarge it. 

Since the laws of the State require that the expenses for the 
printing of catalogues, the purchase of stationery, etc., be paid 
out of the contingent fund, I recommend a larger appropriation 
for that purpose. The last appropriation was entirely inade- 
quate to meet the demands upon that fund. The U. S. Govern- 
ment appropriates §5,000 annually toward the support of the 
School. From this fund, four instructors in mechanics and 
farming and the President of the institution are paid. From 
this fund, also, all the purchases of material for these depart- 
ments are made. 

The State must, therefore, increase the appropriation for 
teachers' salaries in the normal department, or the work of this 
department will be retarded. The number of engines, and the 
amount of machinery connected with the institution make the 
care of a regular engineer imperative. Five Hundred Dollars 
should be appropriated for this purpose. The good work of 
this Institution is already making itself felt throughout the 
State. 

Teachers from this school have gone into every part of the 
State, and, by their better culture, and broader knowledge of 
the people, are raising the standard of education and good cit- 
izenship. 

DEAF, DUMB AND BLIND SCHOOLS. 

Our Schools for the Deaf and the Blind at Romney are making 
substantial progress, and the increased attendance calls for an 
enlargement of the buildings. A number of applicants have 
been excluded on account of the present crowded conditions, 
and I would recommend an appropriation for such enlargement 
as will enable the admission of all entitled to attendance. If 
this is done, it will call for an increase of the Current Expense 
fund to meet additional demands. 

A review of twenty parallel State instutions shows a per cap- 
ita expense of two hundred and fifty-three dollars, while in our 
own the cost per pupil is one hundred and seventy dollars. The 
report shows that the class rooms in the deaf department are 
not well ventilated or lighted, and this is a most serious mat- 



First Message to the Legislature. 



221 



ter, when we contemplate its effect upon the eyes of children 
who can only gain information through the medium of sight. 
The blind department is under good organization, well supplied 
with text and reference books, a/nd the musical section has been 
very much improved by the purchase of new instruments. If 
an orchestra is re-organized it will necessitate the employment 
of a director, and some other additional expenses. 

The manual training should not be abridged for want of ap- 
pliances, and funds should be provided for an extension of this 
department. 

After a thorough review, I can see no objection to the dual 
organization, and would recommend the continuation of these 
schools under one supervision, at least for the present, believing 
that both classes will be afforded as good opportunities for in- 
struction as could be secured under separate management. 

For matters in detail, 1 refer you to the biennial report of 
this institution, believing that you will make a liberal provision 
for these unfortunate children, whose lives are wrapped up in 
silence and darkness; to whom all avenues of instruction are 
closed unless special training be given them in this important 
institution of our State. 

A PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM. 

The work of education in our State has made such advance- 
ment, our public schools have so increased in efficiency, that 
the general average of intelligence and culture is greatly im- 
proved. I think that the time has now come for the supple- 
menting of our admirable system of public schools by a system 
of public libraries. These will afford the teachers and pupils of 
our schools greater facilities for broad and general knowledge 
and will tend to advance the general intelligence and morality 
of the communities in which they are located. 

Laws to encourage or command the establishment and main- 
tenance of free public libraries in towns now exist in twenty-sev- 
en states of the Union and are pending in some others. Several 
other States also have laws for the establishment of school li- 
braries in the school districts. It is noticeable that some States^ 
notably Maine, having an excellent library system, exert upon 
the Nation an influence much greater than their size and popu- 
lation would lead us to expect. The personal character of a 



222 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



people, their intelligence and morality, are important factors 
in the development of a State's influence and power. 

Our own State's rapid development along all material lines, 
its flourishing financial condition, the imperative need of devel- 
oping its people in every way for larger aud nobler responsibil- 
ities—these make it fit and proper that we should inaugurate a 
movement for the establishment of free public libraries through- 
out the State. Our State is entitled by its natural advantages 
to assume at no distant date, a place among the leading com- 
monwealths of the Nation. Its people are worthy of, and should 
receive every advantage for equipping them for making the 
best use of their opportunities. 

I recommend legislation along the following lines: 

1. The creation of a non-partisan commission of five persons 
as a State Public Library Commission, to generally encourage, 
direct and supervise the establishment of free public libraries 
in all parts of the State. These shall serve without salary, but 
may expend a sum not to exceed $500 a year for secretary's 
work, traveling and incidental expenses. 

2. A law authorizing every legal division of the State, as 
county, city and school district, to levy taxes and appropriate 
money for the establishment and maintenance of a free public 
library within its borders, either in connection with its public 
schools or separate from them. 

3. A law providing for the payment of subsidies from the 
State Treasury for the benefit of each free public library in the 
State — such subsidies to be regulated in their amount by the 
size of the library and the community in which it is located, 
but in no case to exceed $200 per year for any one library. 

BOY'S REFORM SCHOOL. 

The reports of the Board of Directors and the Superintendent 
of this institution, I have no doubt will be read with interest by 
you, as they have been read by me. The institution is certainly 
in splendid condition. The Board of Directors report no deficit, 
and when the bills receivable are all paid, there will be a nice 
balance in the treasury. This school was opened in July, 1890, 
and up to October 1, 1898, five hundred boys have been ad- 
mitted into the institution. During the past year one hundred 
were admitted and fifty-nine were discharged. The present num- 



First Message to the Legislature. 223 



ber of inmates is two hundred, of whom twenty-nine are col- 
ored. 

I have not had an opportunity to visit the school, but from 
the reports of the Board of Directors and the Superintendent, 
and from other persons who are familiar with its workings, I 
am fully persuaded that it is well managed, and is in an emi- 
nently satisfactory condition. The school is carefully graded, 
the health of the boys is good, and the discipline and moral tone 
are of a high order. Instruction is carefully given in farming 
and the mechanic arts. Other industries should be added to 
those now taught, so as to give employment to those that are 
now, of necessity, uninstructed in the useful arts. 

There has been an earnest effort on the part of the managers 
of this institution to carry out the intention for which it was 
established, and it has already proved itself a valuable adjunct 
to the State's penal work. 

The handling of wayward boys is an important duty of the 
State. In the interest of humanity and of judicious economy, 
special effort should be made to render all available opportu- 
nities in the way of growth into a worthy manhood of those 
unfortunate youths, who either by heredity or by bad associa- 
tions drift or are entrapped into violations of our Statutes in 
early life. The duties of administration and supervision are 
distinct in theory, and are merged in practice in homes such as 
the one at Pruntytown, and which in all the States that have 
instituted them, have proved both satisfactory and profitable. 

REFORM SCHOOL FOR GIRLS. 

The last session of your honorable body, wisely, I think, estab- 
lished an Industrial School or Home for incorrigible females in 
our State, under the age of eighteen years. A small appropriation 
was made to begin the important work. The Board of Directors 
selected a site near Salem, Harrison county, for the school, and 
one of the contemplated series of buildings has been constructed. 
One-third of this edifice is now ready for the reception of a few 
incorrigible girls, or at least will be ready as soon as the neces- 
sary furniture can be procured. 

The citizens of Salem donated 38 acres of ground, bored a 
fresh water well and supplied the same with a, large tank for the 
use of the occupants of the building. 



224 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



To fully complete the structure, to properly furnish it, to fence 
the grounds and pat them in proper condition, and to carry on 
the institution for the ensuing two years, and at the same time 
add one or more buildings, a good sized appropriation will be 
necessary at your hands. The Board has already received a 
large number of applications for admission to the institution, 
which is proof positive of the wisdom of the Legislature in estab- 
lishing the school. 

THE WESTON ASYLUM. 

The Hospital at Weston, in all of its apportionments, is one 
of the great eleemosynary institutions of the entire country. In 
accommodations, grounds, surroundings, and management, it 
belongs to the first class of similar institutions everywhere. Its 
present management is bound to commend it to the favorable 
consideration of our people. During the past two years, a vast 
amount of repairing of the plant has been done, and yet much 
more of this sort of work should be done to put things in proper 
condition. 

The improvements recently made more as follows: A new 
laundry has been added at a cost of $20,000, on which there re- 
mains an unpaid balance of $9,975.00, which is now due. The 
Colored hospital has been remodeled, at a cost of $1,850. Two 
Sterling water tube boilers of 250 horse power each, were pur- 
chased at a cost of $4,100, one-half of which amount remains 
unpaid. An electric light plant of sufficient capacity to light 
the building and grounds, costing $4,600, for which entire pay- 
ment has been made. Other minor improvements have been 
added, which have materially increased the convenience and 
value of the property. 

The Superintendent, who is unquestionably an able and com- _ 
petent man, states in his report to me that "the appropriation 
for the past two years for current expenses was $130,000 for 
each year. This is not sufficient to properly carry on the in- 
stitution for the number of employees and patients we now have. 
We have about seventy-five more patients and eight more em- 
ployees than we had a year ago. The number of patients we 
now have is 1,021, and we also have one hundred and seventy 
employees, which make about twelve hundred people to feed and 
furnish with bedding, and over one thousand to clothe. We 
need new carpets and furniture for the administration building, 



First Message to the Legislature. 



225 



as those we now have are not creditable to the State. We need 
specially new mattrasses and bedsteads in a number of our 
apartments. In short, I can assure you that every dollar of 
appropriations asked for by the Board should be given to us." 

The report of the Board of Directors of this institution is com- 
plete within itself, and I ask your careful consideration of their 
requests. 

The insane are the wards of the State, and we will make a 
serious mistake if we fail to render to them all the assistance 
in our power. 

We have two hospitals of this character, both of which are 
intelligently and properly conducted. I have given personal 
attention to both of them, and have inspected them with great 
carefulness, because I deemed it due to myself, as well as to the 
people of our State, that we should know exactly how our un- 
fortunate insane are being looked after. 

At this Hospital, all the water from condensation in the steam 
heating coils is discharged into the sewer. This enormous 
waste should be stopped. Some idea of this waste may be esti- 
mated from the amount of water used in the steam heating 
system during the season when artificial heat is used, which 
probably is from 150,000 to 200,000 gallons per day. This 
water, taken cold and dirty from the river, is discharged from 
the heating coils hot and clean. It should be returned to. the 
boilers. The saving of fuel and wear and destruction of boilers 
would probably compensate for the cost of the needed improve- 
ment in a single season. No accurate estimate of the cost has 
been made, but probably it would cost from $1,000 to $ 1,500 
to carry it into effect. 

SECOND HOSPITAL FOB- THE INSANE. 

After a personal inspection of this splendid institution, I am 
pleased to state that it is being managed, I am sure, to the en- 
tire satisfaction of the people of the State, and relatives and 
friends of the Hospital's patients should find much consolation 
in knowing that their loved ones receive the best of treatment 
and kindest of attention at this institution. All departments 
have been kept up to a high point of excellency, and the moral 
and humane character of the institution is all that could be 
asked. 

The fiscal year ending Sept. 30th, 1898, has been the most 



226 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



flourishing in the history of this Hospital. There were admit- 
ted during the year 155 patients, being a greater number of ad- 
missions than in any previous year. There were discharged as 
recovered 63, which exceeds previous years, while the death rate 
has been very low, being 5.9 per cent, on the whole number 
treated. Number remaining in Hospital, October 1st, 1898, 
311. 

A pure and abundant supply of water for the Hospital cannot 
be over estimated, and there should be a special appropriation 
to complete the improvements that have already been com- 
menced in this direction. 

A dynamo should be purchased for the Hospital at the earli- 
est possible moment, as the one that is now in use is insufficient 
for the needs of the Hospital, and in case of an accident to the 
dynamo, the institution would be very much embarrassed. 

It is very important that there should be a special appropria- 
tion to purchase an ice plant, as on account of the inaccessible 
location and growth of the institution, the cost of ice is increas- 
ing each year, and at the present rate of expenses for ice, an ice 
plant would pay for itself in about three years. 

I am inclined to believe that the various sums as set forth by 
the Board of Directors in their bi-ennial report to me are essen- 
tial for the successful maintenance of this institution. Particu- 
larly do I call your attention to the fact, that this institution 
has been hitherto stinted, from year to year, in its appropria- 
tions, necessitating cumbersome deficiencies that have been car- 
ried forward from one year to another, which, in my judgment, 
ought not to be done. I beg of you to give this subject due 
consideration. 

AMENDMENT TO LUNACY LAW. 

It seems to me thab our present lunacy law should be care- 
fully revised. To say the least our present law on this import- 
ant matter is notoriously loose. I would suggest that the Sup- 
erintendents of our two Insane Hospitals be consulted as to 
the proper and greatly needed amendments to our existing 
law. 

Cases of acute alchoholism, paupers aud other improper per- 
sons are repeatedly adjudged insane, and if the superintendents 
of the Hospitals discharge them and return them to their re- 



First Message to the Legislature. 



227 



spective counties, they are frequently returned to the Hospitals 
There should be at least a partial remedy for these evils. 

Some of the counties of the State in sending their pauper in- 
sane deliver them to the Hospital's authorities in a pitiable 
condition, very often clothed in rags and their clothing and 
bodies infected with vermin and dirt. Each county in sending 
its pauper insane should see that a complete outfit of clothing 
is provided the patients just before leaving the county jail, so 
that the introduction of contagious germs and vermin would be 
prevented at the Hospitals, and it should also insure decency 
and comfort to the patient in transit. 

There are a large number of persons in our two insane hos- 
pitals who are not insane, and under existing law, are received 
as insane, which is unjust to the tax payers of the State. 
Scores of born idiots are now confined in these two hospitals. 
The law never contemplated the care of this class of unfortu- 
nates. They are truly unfortunates, but they are not insane, 
because they never possessed minds or intellects to become 
over-balanced or destroyed. This matter, it seems to me, is 
worthy of your careful consideration. 

ASYLUM FOR INCURABLES. 

The last session of your honorable body provided for the es- 
tablishment of a home for that class of persons, within the lim- 
its of our State, who are afflicted with incurable diseases. We 
have within our State lines a large number of citizens who are 
afflicted with diseases and maladies that medical skill cannot 
reach. These unfortunates who are unable to provide for them- 
selves should be cared for at public expense. The State has 
very properly undertaken to provide a home for this helpless 
class of our citizens. Other states have made similar provis- 
ions. Philanthropic people everywhere commend movements 
of this character. This class of unfortunates must be looked 
after, and our State is among the first to assume the responsi- 
bility of providing a permanent and comfortable home for them 
at public expense. Those who are afflicted with incurable dis- 
eases ought not to be received into insane asylums or county 
poor houses; and yet, they should somehow and in some way 
be looked after and provided for in the most considerate man- 
ner. The people of West Virginia, through their representatives 



228 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



in the legislature, have decided to construct an asylum for these 
helpless, hapless individuals. A vast sum of money is necessary 
to successfully carry out this undertaking. Our people, 
through their representatives, have expressed a willingness to 
provide the necessary funds to consummate this great philan- 
thropic movement, and the work has been properly and careful- 
ly started. 

The Committee, or Board provided for by the statute in cre- 
ating this asylum, located it at Huntington, and the Board of 
Directors of the institution, provided for under the Act, accept- 
ed the plan of Architect Harrison Albright, of Charleston, 
known as the "cottage plan," which will cost, in round num- 
bers, the sum of f 200, 000, to complete it. These various 
buildings will accommodate comfortably one thousand pa- 
tients, which shows less cost by far, for the same capacity and 
character of accommodations, than any of our other State in- 
stitutions, and, perhaps, any other similar institution of the 
kind in our entire country. The plan of the architect reveals 
great genius, and impresses me as one worthy of special consid- 
eration. 

The Board of Directors of this institution has devoted much 
time and energy to the induction, construction and completion 
of this great undertaking. This Board, being wrapped up in its 
designs, desires and work, and with a sincere hope of having 
your earnest backing to carry to successful completion its plans 
so carefully and deliberately made, ask at your hands an ap- 
propriation sufficient to construct these various buildings at 
the earliest period possible. 

In the language of the President of the Board of Directors of 
this institution: "It is not to the interest of the State, or in 
justice to the long suffering class of incurables, for the Legisla- 
ture to cripple the Board of Directors by a meager appropria- 
tion, for when only a building at a time can be erected, it neces- 
sitates extra expense in heating, plumbing, laundry, etc., while 
the whole plan will embrace one general heating system as well 
as a general laundry. Common business principles demand a 
generous recognition of this institution, that it may rank, not 
only as the first in the charities of our own State, but that it 
may be known the length and breadth of the United States." 

This is an excellent presentation of the merits of this long 
needed humane institution. The plan adopted by the Board 



First Message to the Legislature. 



229 



cannot fail to meet jour approbation. It is modern in all its 
appliances; the buildings are attractive and convenient, and 
when completed, according to the plan of the architect, will per- 
haps be the most commanding public structure within the 
State. I cannot but feel that the conception of the plan is the 
product of real genius. 

One of the several buildings has already been completed, and 
the Board of Directors is anxious to push all the other build- 
ings to a speedy conclusion. This ambition is laudable, and 
owing to the urgent existing need for its construction, I ask 
that the request of the Board may, as far as possble, be com- 
plied with. 

STATE PENITENTIARY. 

The management of this important State institution by the 
present Board of Directors and Warden, has been most credit- 
able and most satisfactory the past two years. It has been 
conducted on the closest and strictest business principles possi- 
ble. The expenses have been materially reduced, and I mean 
no disparagement to former administrations when I sav that 
the general conduct of the institution has been greatly im- 
proved. Its affairs have been so systematically and carefully 
conducted that it has reached almost a self-supporting basis. 
The bi-eunial report, which I beg to hand you, has been accu- 
rately prepared, and I commend it to your careful scrutiny and 
your thoughtful consideration. 

On account of an error in the appropriation for this institu- 
tion, (which was evidently an over-sight) it was found necessa- 
ry for the Board of Public Works to borrow the sum of $10,- 
000, to meet the current expenses and the repairs that it was 
found necessary to make; and I ask that a deficiency appropri- 
ation for that amount and the interest thereon from October 1, 
1898, to pay said loan, be made by your honorable body. 

During the years 1897 -8 a substantial, valuable and necessary 
addition to the building was made. These new cells were neces- 
sary, not only for the security of the prisoners, but for their 
health as well. The present management has introduced new 
sanitary methods, which have resulted in a marked improve- 
ment of the health of the convicts, The institution is moving 
along without a jar, and is in all respects creditable to our pro- 
gressive State. 



230 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. 

The State Board of Health has been, the past year, more val- 
uable to the State than perhaps at any other period of its his- 
tory, on account of the appearance of small-pox in two of the 
most populous sections of West Virginia, and the intelligent 
and heroic manner that it was treated by this Board. The 
malady was corralled and stamped out in a comparatively 
short period of time. Had it not been for the energetic efforts 
of this Board, the disease might have been general and caused 
great loss of life and irreparable injury to the business interests 
of the people. 

I can assure your honorable body that this Board, by the 
high standard of requirements laid down for those engaged in 
the practice of medicine, has weeded out the mountebanks from 
the profession, and none but well educated and well equipped 
physicians can now secure permits to practice medicine within 
the limits of the State. This alone is worth to all classes much 
more than the sum of mone}^ required to pay the expenses of 
the Board. The bi-ennial report, which I herewith submit for 
your consideration, is so complete in all the essential details of 
the operations of the Board, that I need do no more than call 
your attention to it in this general manner. 

THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

This comparatively new department of our State has, per- 
has, made more advancement and improvement than any other 
during the present administration. From a very small begin- 
ning in 1891, it has steadily advanced in importance and use- 
fulness, until it has become a necessity to the people, and a 
State department of which we are all proud. To it you may 
go for such information as pertains to the great and growing 
agricultural interests of our State, with the full assurance that 
you will find what you seek, and be kindly and courteously 
treated by it, and by all of its representatives. It has been in- 
strumental in introducing many new and useful ideas to the 
farmers, stockmen and fruit growers of the State, and its earn- 
est and persistent efforts are being fully appreciated by the 
farmers and the people generally, and they are co-operating 
with zeal and earnestness, in all the Board undertakes for their 
benefit; and husbandry, in the fullness of its meaning, is being 



First Message to the Legislature. 



231 



rapidly developed within our borders, a fact which should be 
recognized by all as an omen of better things to come. No ag- 
ricultural State or county can be really prosperous, or reach its 
highest development in good citizenship, with an oppressed, 
maltreated and down-trodden rural population. Ours is an 
agricultural State to such an extent that nearly 70,000 more 
people are engaged in this pursuit than can be found in all of 
our magnificent forests, all of our splendid mines, all of our 
rich oil fields, all of our work shops, all of our great manufac- 
turing establishments, and all of our stores and offices com- 
bined. 

That considerably more than one-half of our population of 
about one million citizens, are engaged in some of the various 
and varied branches of husbandry, and that new and better 
methods are constantly obtaining, largely through the efforts 
of this Board, should be a source of great gratification and 
pleasure to all who seek the highest good of the people, and the 
fullest development of our magnificent resources as a State. 

The monthly publication of this Board, which was formerly 
issued quarterly and in much less numbers, is now issued 
monthly, and an edition of 8,000 copies is readily absorbed by 
the farmers who have learned its value, and who desire to be 
"up-to-date" in all their farming operations. The number re- 
quired is constantly increasing, and will probably reach 15,000 
within the next year. This publication, now known as "The 
West Virginia Farm Review", affords an excellent medium 
through which to carry to the farmers of the State the latest 
and most approved methods in agriculture, and for the free in- 
terchange of ideas and experiences— the successes and failures 
of the practical farmers themselves— and whether this method 
or that proves most satisfactory in the actual experiences of 
the farm. Without this publication, much of the information 
gathered by the Board in its aggressive and progressive opera- 
tions, would lie dormant and unused by the mass of the farm- 
ers of our State; but with it, by it and through it, all may 
know what is being accomplished by improved methods of man- 
agement and tillage. 

Another great means of education and improvement is offered 
the people in the system of Farmers' Institutes which the Board 
has inaugurated. During the present administration, this 
branch of the work of the Board has been very wisely and 



232 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



successfully extended. Within the past two years, fifty-six 
very successful and instructive Farmers'* Institutes have 
been held, nearly all of which were well attended by the 
local farmers. Representatives of the Board and of the ex- 
periment Station of the University, attended these meet- 
ings, assisted in the organization, and took part in the 
discussion of the many important and timely subjects 
which were brought before the societies. A strong and well 
officered Farmers' Institute society is now reported from 
each of the fifty-five counties of our State. With practical 
farmers composing the Board, and scientific and experimental 
men from the University Station, and the veterinarians, and 
other consulting members of the Board, the instruction given, 
and the discussions had at the institutes must have been varied, 
and doubtless covered the ground in a most satisfactory and 
helpful manner to those in attendance. The demand seems im- 
perative for still more and better work in the Farmers" Insti- 
tute field, and I bespeak for this work your hearty encourage- 
ment. 

Acting under the authority conferred by House Bill No. 26, 
passed by the last session of the Legislature, the Board of Agri- 
culture has been active in its efforts to suppress all dangerous 
and contagious diseases among domestic animals, found with- 
in the State. Quite a number of cattle infected with tuber- 
culosis, and horses with glanders, have been quarantined or 
destro t yed; and I am of opinion that much more money was 
saved the people of the State within the past two years than 
the maintenance of the Board has cost since its creation. The 
consulting veterinarians of the Board have been invaluable in 
carrying into practical effect the provisions of this Act. They 
conducted all examinations and tests, and proved themselves 
well equipped for their work. The necessary amendments to 
the bill above referred to, and the available appropriation men- 
tioned in the recommendation of the Board is certainly desir- 
able, and should have your careful attention and support. 

Our live stock interests must be properly protected, if we may 
hope for improvement and development along this line. 

The recommendations regarding the gathering of Agricultur- 
al Statistics for the department by the county assessors, meets 
my approval and endorsement, and I hope will receive your 
careful consideration. 



Fikst Message to the Legislature. 



233 



The tax question is one of great importance to all of us and 
especially to our farmers; and any unequal or unjust dis- 
criminations which may exist should be fairly and properly ad- 
justed, so that every species of taxable property will bear its 
just and equitable share of the burdens of taxation. The as- 
sessments should be just and uniform throughout the State, 
falling with equal and exact fairness upon all species x of tax- 
able property; and such laws as may be necessary to compel 
every corporation and every individual to properly list all pro- 
perty for taxation— whether visible or invisible— should be en- 
acted and enforced. 

West Virginia is especially adapted to sheep husbandry, and it 
is one of our expanding and developing industries. Such legis- 
lation as will most effectually protect our flocks against the 
ravages of dogs should be speedily enacted, as it is certainly 
desired by the flock masters of our State. 

Our orchard products are becoming of more and more value 
and importance every year, and the dangers from disease and 
insect pests are increasing with each succeeding year. The worst 
of all orchard pests — the San Jose scale — has already been in- 
troduced into several sections of the State on nursery stock 
from other states, but through the efforts of the Experiment 
Station and the Board of Agriculture, its spread has been con- 
fined to a small area. It is believed that it has been thorough- 
ly eradicated from one or more orchards in the eastern part of 
the State, and if this proves to be true, the work of the Station 
and the Board merits the highest praise. Our orchard products 
are too great to be left to luck or chance, and proper legisla- 
tion for its effectual protection is asked by our farmers and fruit- 
growers, and should not be ignored or neglected. 

Nearly $ 700, 000 is being practically wasted upon our public 
highways every year, as little or no permanent improvements 
are being made. The cry from every section is for some system 
of PERM ANENT ROAD BUILDING^ The State will never reach 
its highest development, until this problem is solved, and good 
roads checker our State in every direction. Our roads are arter- 
ies of commerce, and no pains or expense should be spared to 
secure the greatest possible improvements along these lines. 

I refer with gratification and pleasure to the ten supplement- 
al reports to be found in the Report of the Board of Agriculture. 
The bringing together of all the agencies which are at work in 



234 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



the State, for the development of agriculture, will prove a con- 
venience which will be appreciated by all who are interested in 
it. All of these associations and societies, I am informed, are 
working in harmony with the Board of Agriculture, and are 
assisting greatly in the consummation of its plans. 

Before leaving this subject, I desire to endorse most heartily 
the efficient and helpful work of this Board, in my efforts to 
develop) the great natural resources of our State,, and I express 
the hope that every thing ' which this Board has asked, in the 
way of appropriations, may be cheerfully granted. I believe 
the recommendations are reasonable and right, and I am confi- 
dent it will be heartily approved by the great army of agricul- 
tural tax payers throughout the State, and carefully, econom- 
ically and judiciously expended in the interest of agriculture, 
and to the advantage and betterment of the whole people of 
the State. 

CONDITIONS OF LABOR IN THE STATE. 

You will find the fifth bi-ennial report of the Commissioner of 
Labor an able and exhaustive report, which I trust all of you 
will find time to read. I have carefully gone over this valuable 
report with the Commissioner, and submit a brief summary of 
certain important conditions followed by a few recommenda- 
tions and changes of statute, which I trust you will be pleased 
to consider. 

It is incumbent upon the Commissioner to perform the duties 
of inspection and to enforce labor laws and regulations pertain- 
ing thereto. While this has been required of the Commissioner 
under the law since the establishment of the office, for the first 
time these duties have been fully performed, and the recommen- 
dation for a more efficient system of inspection embodied in the 
report of factory inspection and recommendation relative to 
employment of children contained in the introduction of this 
report are the results of his investigations. To better inform 
himself of the conditions surrounding wage earners, male and 
female, the Commissioner spent four months among the princi- 
pal industries of the State, and personally inspected five hun- 
dred establishments in all parts of the State where labor is em- 
ployed. The importance of this investigation suggested itself 
from the fact that there is no law pertaining to and regulating 
labor outside of mining interests in our State. Factory and 



First Message to the Legislature. 



235 



workshop inspection is rapidly becoming a very interesting and 
important feature in State affairs. It is one of the practical 
methods of legislation that brings prompt and efficient results 
to the mechanic and laborer, and brings about results that 
better the conditions of employment of labor. 

Aside from general investigation and the work of factory in- 
spection, much has been accomplished along special lines of in- 
terest to the working people, and we have succeeded in having 
the Bureau of Labor recognized as a means eminently useful to 
the attainment of facts and conditions necessary for efficient 
legislation in all matters pertaining to the relation of capital 
and labor and their interests and the welfare of our working 
people. 

For the benefit of those in whose interests this office has been 
established, Commissioner Barton has kept in close touch with 
all departments of labor in the United States and from these 
sources I am confident we have been greatly benefitted. 

In the work thus far, satisfactorj 7 progress, I think, has been 
made, and perhaps the best results obtained are that a basis 
has been established, and the work well begun will now be more 
easily kept up and carried through in the years to come. 

I will take up separately the subjects investigated by the Com- 
missioner and desire to recommend some legislation in the in- 
terest of those people who have no hope except in their repre- 
sentatives in Legislatures and in Congress; and I trust you will 
be pleased by proper legislation to inaugurate a system of re- 
form in West Virginia that will be of advantage to the State 
and a benefit to its people also. 

The Acts of 1887 relative to the employment of minors is in- 
adequate for the purpose for which it was intended, and a more 
stringent law should be passed to prevent the employment of 
children in our factories and workshops. Children are found 
employed to do the work that should be performed by able- 
bodied men; not through necessity, but from the fact that it is 
cheaper. For this reason strong men are forced to enter the 
labor market in competition with this kind of labor— children 
of twelve years of age and less. There are many employers of 
laborers in our State who have the services of little boys and 
girls for no other purpose than to decrease the cost of produc- 
tion, which necessarily displaces ad nit labor. These little 
• children, Commissioner Barton informs me, work as many 



236 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



hours as is required by the strongest men and often for less 
than two dollars per week. Public sentiment admits that if 
there is a business that cannot be successfully carried on with- 
out child labor it certainly needs the attention of the State. 

We have the expressions of many noted physicians on this 
subject, who denounce the employment of children of so tender 
an age as really barbarous, and which will entail untold mis- 
ery to future generations. We have also the expressions of well 
informed manufacturers, principals of schools and colleges and 
working men who claim the people should raise their voices in 
protest against this cruelty to the innocent. The views of our 
Labor Commissioner on this question are, in view of the higher 
educational requirements in every department of life, we owe to 
the youth of our State, such protection as will protect them 
against ignorance and being impaired in life by labor while the 
body and its functions are in process of development. I believe 
that we owe it to ourselves and to posterity and to the working 
men of our State, that the age of labor be raised in order to 
lessen the tendency of bringing the labor of children into coin- 
petition with men and women, and by this the general labor of 
the country would be better paid. Public sentiment, I am sure, 
strongly supports the arguments here outlined, and my own 
experience and observation prove to my entire satisfaction that 
the age of twelve years is too low to accomplish the purpose 
for which it was intended. Therefore I recommend that the 
law be changed so as to make it unlawful to employ children 
under fourteen years of age in any of the manufacturing indus- 
tries and mines of West Virginia. 

Without any statute regulation relative to female laborers, 
we have some of the best equipped factories in West Virginia 
looking to the comfort and privacy of female employes that has 
been the pleasure of the Commissioner to have seen, and while 
this may not be in the strict sense of the term an exception to 
the rule, it is certainly not general enough to be passed by un- 
noticed. It has come under the observation and within the ex- 
perience of the Commissioner to inspect plants where females 
are employed, where no consideration whatever has been given 
them as regards the difference of sex. While it is unpleasant to 
bring to your attention matters of this kind, I regard it my 
plain duty so to do, and regret, upon the authority of the Com- 
missioner, to say, that there are employers of females in our 



First Message to the Legislature. 



237 



State who make no provision for retirement and privacy of 
females. There could not be a greater neglect than this. It is, 
to say the least, inexcusable to compel females who are forced 
by necessity to work in factories and workshops to submit to 
such indignities and exposure. There is another imposition as 
unpardonable and cruel as the above in common practice that 
working girls have to submit to: namely, they are compelled 
to remain on their feet for as many hours as they are employed; 
ten, and even twelve hours per day. In some of our industries, 
the Commissioner informs me that he has seen, during a short 
suspension of work, girls leaning against the wall and hanging 
to machinery and on counters, stealing as it were, a moment's 
rest for their tired and aching limbs. Could there be anything 
more cruel than this? What is the natural condition of these 
girls after a few years of this kind of work and their chance for 
life on entering motherhood? It presents itself as a plain case 
for State intervention; and for their relief I make the following 
recommendation: namely, that every person, firm or corpora- 
tion employing females in any mercantile or manufacturing es- 
tablishment in this State, furnish and provide suitable seatsfor 
the use of females so employed, and shall permit the use of such 
seats by said females when they are not engaged in the active 
duties for which they are employed. I further recommend that 
all persons employing females in this State, in any business 
whatever, shall furnish and provide, where it is necessary to 
change clothing, suitable rooms for this purpose, and lavato- 
ries for the exclusive use of females. 

As I have instanced child and female labor, it is equally true 
as regards industrial conditions in all departments of labor in 
the State. 

With the exception as above stated of the mining industry, 
there seems to be a total absence of industrial legislation for 
the welfare and preservation of life and health of the wage earn- 
ers in the industrial establishments of West Virginia. With a 
few notable exceptions, the Commissioner states that employers 
of labor have been as negligent in this matter as the State. It 
must be said to the credit of some of our employers of labor, 
however, that every precaution is made and great consideration 
is given for the prevention of accidents and the preservation of 
the life and health of their employees, and the most modern and 
improved methods for this purpose have been employed; some 



238 Public Addresses, kc, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



of them so perfect in their arrangement and equipment that it 
would be impossible for the Commissioner to offer any sugges- 
tions for their improvement. It is needless to say that there 
are no accidents to report from places of this kind. The num- 
ber of accidents that are reported almost daily comiug to the 
notice and under the observation of the Commissioner, prove 
conclusively that there is a necessity for statutory, regulations 
for the government of our factories and other places where labor 
is regularly performed. It is true in some instances that firms 
or corporations have paid indemnity to people who have sus- 
tained injury. This does not remove the cause and the danger 
still exists. If the managers of these plants would give the same 
attention to the prevention of accidents as they do to increase 
of production, there would be no need of a law on this subject; 
but unfortunately this is rarely done. 

In the absence of interest in this matter on the part of many 
of our factory owners and the apparent necessity of the State 
taking some action, I recommend that a system of factory laws 
be enacted and established making provision for the prevention 
of accidents, such as guarding all dangerous machinery, shaft- 
ing, belting, elevators, etc., and empowering the Commissioner 
of Labor or Factory Inspector to make suggestions and recom- 
mendations pertaining thereto. 

From the Clipping Bureau and other sources we have the ac- 
count of many fatal boiler explosions, and I deem it of import- 
ance to call your attention to this subject, in order that some- 
thing may be done by our present Legislature to guard against 
the possibility of accidents from this cause, and to stop the too 
frequent careless handling of steam boilers. Those who are in- 
terested in this matter, and have made an intelligent study of 
this subject, can find no reason why the State should not come 
to the rescue and supervise this matter. Chapter 89, of the 
Acts of 1897, relative to this question, serves no purpose, and 
is a dead letter upon our statute books, as evidenced a few 
months ago, in the city of Wheeling. I earnestly protest 
against the employment of incompetent men for engineers. 
This is a feature which enters the problem of accidents, which 
should not be lost sight of. The Commissioner, who is himself, 
an experienced engineer, informs me that he has known men and 
boys in charge of steam plants, who knew T no more about the 
power of steam or the capacity of boilers, than the boilers knew 



First Message to the Legislature. 



239 



about them. This unfortunate condition of things, however, 
exists mostly in the small plants, where they want to avoid the 
cost of a skilled or practical man. There can be no doubt in 
the mind of anyone, having the least knowledge of steam plants, 
that they are operated in an unsafe and dangerous manner, and 
calls for State inspection; but it is a question in my mind if 
State inspection of steam plants would entirely eliminate the 
danger, for the reason that there are as many dangerous 
engineers as there are dangerous plants. The one in charge is 
responsible for the conditions, consequently a safe steam plant 
becomes a dangerous one as soon as a dangerous engineer is 
placed in charge. Therefore, I would recommend that the pre- 
sent law relative to stationary engineering, as prescribed by 
chapter 89 of the Acts of 1897, be abolished, and in place there- 
of would recommend the establishment of a State Board of Ex- 
aminers for all stationary engineers and others having charge 
of steam generating apparatus, within the State of West Vir- 
ginia. 

It is very important that some provision be made to secure 
the safety of the people who are employed in large buildings, in 
the event of fire. Many of the buildings are four and five stor- 
ies high, and often on the upper floors the busiest work rooms 
are found; perfect bee-hives of industry. Fifty to one hundred 
boys and girls are often found here, with no other means of exit 
than the stairways, and should a fire originate in the lower 
apartments, there would be no avenue of escape for the employ- 
ees on the upper floors, except the windows, thirty, forty, fifty 
and sixty feet from the ground. Instances of this sort are on 
record, and some provision should be made for the safety of 
these people. Therefore, I would recommend that all buildings 
two stories high or more, where labor is employed, be equipped 
with fire escapes on the outside of the buildings, in easy access 
for the use of the employees, in event of fire. 

The greatest modern evils, relating to the work of women 
and children, have arisen in connection with what has come to 
be known as the "sweating" system or tenement house system 
of labor. This "sweating" is largely confined to the manufact- 
ure of tobacco, cigars and clothing in tenement houses. The 
evils of this system arise from the long hours, unhealthy con- 
ditions fostered for the workers and the disease bearing pro- 
ducts prepared under these conditions for the public. 



240 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



"Sweating" does not exist to any appreciable extent as yet in 
West Virginia, but laws should be enacted to prevent its obtain- 
ing a foothold in the larger cities of the State. To this end the 
manufacture of tobacco, cigars and clothing should be prohib- 
ited in any room in a tenement house used for the ordinary pur- 
poses of living. 

The strained relations now unfortunately existing between 
capital and labor, and which seems to be a menaceof the future, 
threaten a more severe strain upon the social fabric than it is 
likely to be called upon to endure from any other source. We 
find to-day, as never before in the world's history, a tendency 
toward organization and concentration. Great corporations 
with millions of capital are extending their arms to all parts of 
the country and controlling the industrial destinies of the Na- 
tion; and through their influence competition is reduced in ev- 
ery line of business. It can be easily understood, therefore, 
that when differences arise between employers and employees, 
that the working man is placed at great disadvantage, realiz- 
ing with capital, that unity alone could give them strength, the 
laboring people have combined in federations and unions for 
mutual protection. 

But it is a mistake to think that the idea of one is the annihi- 
lation of the other, and it becomes necessary to surround this 
organization of capital and labor with a soothing influence 
where there is a difference of opinion between them, and the 
usual methods employed have failed to bring about a satisfac- 
tory agreement between the factions. Closely allied to the labor 
question and considered by many to be its only practical and 
permanent solution, is arbitration of disputes arising in the in- 
dustrial world. The greater the number of strikes and lock- 
outs, the greater the loss to the employers and employees. The 
weeks of enforced idleness which a strike necessarily brings, the 
closing down at great expense of factories, mines and work- 
shops, bring both the employers and employees to a full real- 
ization of the fact that some peaceable means must be employed 
that will prevent the great loss of money on both sides alike, 
and the misfortune which such loss produces. 

Not alone are employers and employees interested in this 
question, but the public at large who are frequently inconve- 
nienced and harrassed by the wide-spread and disastrous strikes 
and boycots. It will, therefore, be seen that if any measure is 



First Message to the Legislature. 



241 



advanced which will tend to lessen evils so apparent from these 
disturbances, we should advocate them in common interest. 
Therefore, I recommend friendly arbitration as a means to be 
employed for a settlement of all industrial disputes arising be- 
tween capital and labor in West Virginia. 

EIGHT HOUR LAW. 

In view of the large number of men employed in West Virginia 
and in all the States of the Union, and owing to the large num- 
ber of labor-saving machines now in active operation, and 
many other well known causes, which are constantly reducing 
the opportunities for the employment of our people, whereby 
they can earn an honest living by honest toil, I most earnestly 
recommend the enactment of a law by which eight hours shall 
be regarded as a working day throughout the State of West 
Virginia. 

MINING INDUSTRIES. 

The growth of the mining industry in this State during the 
past sixteen years has been so rapid that the public mind has 
barely kept abreast of the phenomenal development in the sta- 
ple commerce of this State. Since the establishment of this de- 
partment, the State's annual product of coal has increased 
over eleven million tons; two hundred more mines have been 
opened, and 17,000 more men find employment at the mines. 

With this increased tonnage, and with 24,000 men now em- 
ployed, it is but a natural course in events that many per- 
sons will be both injured and killed. The records confirm this, 
and to an alarming extent. In 1883, six thousand men were 
employed and 2,805,566 tons of coal were dug with a loss of 
twenty men, or one man for each 140,278 tons of coal pro- 
duced; in 1890, 11,300 men were employed in the production of 
4,183,286 tons of coal, with a loss of 13 men, or one man for 
each 321,791 tons. In 1893, the mines had increased in num- 
ber to two hundred, and 17,000 men were employed in the pro- 
duction of 9,758,991 tons of coal with a loss of seventy-two 
men killed, or one man killed for each 135,542 tons produced. 
In 1895, the number of men killed was 83, or one for each 
119,013 tons of coal mined; in 1896, there were sixty-four men 
killed, or one man for each 188,476 tons of coal mined; in 



242 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



1897, sixty-two men were killed, or one for each 186,643 tons, 
and in 1898, there were eighty-seven men killed, in the production 
from over 300 mines of 14,294,865 tons of coal, or one man 
killed for each 164,308 tons of coal produced. In fact, during 
the past six years, 427 men have found death at the mines in 
this State, and the records show that a great many of these 
might have been prevented had certain regulations been ob- 
served. 

The mines in the State now number over 300, and their com- 
bined capacity is 20,000,000 tons of coal per year. 

A careful study has been made of the causes of accidents, as 
may be observed from the two reports made to me by- the Chief 
Mine Inspector, whose opinion is, as well as the opinion of each 
of the District Inspectors, that it is necessary to enact some 
specific laws regulating the conduct of persons employed in the 
mines of this State, in order to further add to the safety of the 
men, and reduce the number of fatalities. 

During the past two years, the Chief Mine Inspector informs 
me, there have been nine accidents due to carelessness in hand- 
ling powder in the mines; one hundred accidents by the mine 
cars, killing eighteen men; 179 accidents due to falls of slate, kill- 
ing 82 men, and one fatality by a gas explosion. Of the eighty- 
seven persons killed the past year, there were only seven inquests 
held in the State. Inquests should always be held upon each 
death resulting from accidents in the mines. 

The four District Inspectors have each about seventy-five 
mines to inspect, and to visit each mine four times per year, oc- 
cupies all of their time. Many suggestions are made by the in- 
spectors for the prevention of accidents, but by reason of there 
being no law to enforce such suggestions, they are infrequently 
complied with. 

The ventilation of some of the mines is defective, and to rem- 
edy this, I am informed, the break-throughs in the mines 
should be placed with more regularity, and at some specified 
distance. 

The oil used in many mines, the Chief Inspector informs me, 
produces excessive volumes of smoke, much to the discomfort 
of the miners. 

The method of timbering in many mines is also defective, and 
needs adjustment. 
It is believed that the condition of the mines and the welfare 



First Message to the Legislature. 



243 



of the employees will be much improved by amending certain 
sections of our mining' laws, and by adding a few new seotions. 

There are working in small mines in this State upwards of 
500 men, who do not have the protection of mine laws. This 
appears to be class legislation, and the laws should include all 
mines in which men risk their lives. 

To accomplish the desired results, the Chief Mine Inspector 
has framed a few amendments to our present laws in the nature 
of specific law r s or rules, which it is believed will very materially 
add to the safety of the mines, and promote the health of men 
working in the mines, and at the same time, entail no unneces- 
sary expense upon the miners or operators. Such amendments 
as have been referred to above, may be found in detail in the 
Chief Mine Inspector's annual report, and I urge their adop- 
tion. 

The contingencies of this department require a more liberal 
appropriation in order to properly execute the laws and to 
place this department on a par with similar departments of 
other States. At this writing, there are no funds available for 
any of the expenses of this department, and it has been neces- 
sary for the Chief and the District Inspectors to use their priv- 
ate funds in order to comply with the duties required of them 
by the law; and the Chief Mine Inspector has had to give his 
personal note for funds which were essential to meet the emer- 
gencies of this department. 

Shall our State's greatest industry be permitted to longer 
suffer? The Legislature alone can answer this important ques- 
tion. 

GAME AND FISH LAWS. 

The last session of the Legislature wisely enacted a law for 
the proper preservation of the game and fish of the State; but 
the Warden has been unable properly to enforce it on account 
of several existing weaknesses or deficiencies, which I trust may 
be provided during the present session. On the whole the law 
is a good one, and compares favorably with similar laws in 
other States. 

TheState of New York appropriates from $60,000 to f 75,000 
annually for the propagation of fishes and game, and their pro- 
tection. Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio nearly as much. 
West Virginia has appropriated comparatively nothing for this 



244 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



purpose; and yet the natural adaptation of this State for game 
and fish is not excelled by any other State in the Union. For a 
satisfactory execution of our game and fish laws, the office of 
Game and Fish Warden should be made a salaried office, with 
actual traveling expenses, with power to deputize at his pleas- 
ure wherever needed. The jurisdiction of the deputies should 
extend only to their respective counties, and their pay should 
come from convictions secured by them; and they should be re- 
quired to make to the Warden verified reports. 

The existing laws should, I beg to suggest, be changed and 
modified as follows: 

1. A law should be passed, prohibiting the emptying or 
throwing of saw-dust, or any other poisonous or deleterious 
substance destructive to fish, into any of the waters of this 
State. 

2. The penalty for dynamiting should be changed to fine or 
imprisonment, instead of "fine and imprisonment," as it now 
reads. 

3. By an oversight in drafting section 11 of chapter 30, of 
the Acts of 1897, quail, or Virginia partridge, are not protect- 
ed at any time of the year after the interdicted period of two 
years, which ends July 22, 1899. This should be remedied. 

Valuable services were rendered by Captain E. F. Smith, for- 
mer Game and Fish Warden, practically without compensation. 
A statement of time given to this work and expenses necessari- 
ly paid out by him, while in the line of duty, will be presented 
to you with a view of asking a special appropriation to pay him 
for services rendered. Of my own knowledge, I can assure you 
that he rendered faithful and valuable service to the State, for 
which he received no compensation. The sa me is in all respect s, 
true of Frank Lively, Esq., the present Warden. He, too, 
should be paid a reasonable compensation for his work in en- 
forcing this particular law. 

NECESSITY FOE A FIREPKOOF BUILDING. 

I am impressed with the necessity of greater security for the 
preservation of our State records than we now possess. While 
it is true that our present capitol building is comparatively 
new, yet, no one will presume to claim that it is at all secure 
from the ravages of fire. Every State officer has an alleged fire- 
proof vault connected with his office; and yet, if the building 



First Message to the Legislature. 245 



were to burn, it is more than likely that these so-called fire-proof 
rooms would prove inadequate to stand against the pressure of 
the flames. 

The records in the offices of the Auditor and Treasurer are of 
incalcuable value to the people of the State; and I am perfectly 
confident that these records would be totally destroyed, or at 
best, would be so injured and defaced as to render them worth- 
less, if the building were burned. 

The State library and the books, records and curios in the 
Historical Society could not possibly be saved in the emergency 
of a fire. Even if only a partial or ordinary fire should occur 
in the building, the injury from water alone would produce a 
total loss of the library, and the valuable effects now contained 
in the Historical Society of the State. 

Another fact is also patent to all who are familiar with the 
situation in the Capitol building, namely: There is scarcely an 
office in the building that is not cramped. The State is growing 
rapidly, and the business connected therewith is increasiug pro- 
portionately. More room for each of the State officials, in a 
very short period, will be an absolute necessity. It is, therefore, 
important to begin preparations for this emergency; and it im- 
presses me that early preparations shonld be made in this direc- 
tion. Moreover, we owe it to the people to immediately take 
proper steps to provide against possible losses of our records 
by fire. 

I therefore recommend the purchase of a lot of ground, of 
suitable dimensions, upon which a three-story fire-proof build- 
ing can be erected for the use of the Auditor and Treas- 
urer's offices on the first floor, the law library and Supreme 
Court Judges on the second floor, and the Historical Society on 
the third floor. 

Real estate is now quite low in value in Charleston, and build- 
ing materials and labor can be commanded at astonishingly 
cheap figures. Such a building and grounds can be procured at 
a sum not exceeding $60,000, which would be a credit to the 
State, and which cost would be an insignificant sum when com- 
pared with the security and advantages it will bring to all con- 
cerned. 

I trust, therefore, that you will take this matter under serious 
consideration. Many of the States have provided fire-proof 
buildings of this character, independent of their capitols, wholly 



246 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



as precautionary measures to preserve valuable records in case 
of unexpected conflagrations. 

THE W. VA. HISTORICAL AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. 

This institution deserves the favorable consideration and lib- 
eral support of your body. 

The organization of the Society, in 1891, relieved the State 
from the odium of being the, then, only State in the Union with- 
out a Historical Society. 

The beginning was small, and the progress at first, necessari- 
ly slow. The members contributed a little money and a few 
books, relics, curios, etc. ; from their own private libraries and 
cabinets; and they were given the use, temporarily of one of the 
committee rooms in this building. 

When the State exhibits at Chicago were brought back here, 
they were turned over to the care and keeping of this Society; 
and the Legislature put in their charge a number of valuable 
government books, State reports, etc., for which there was no 
room in the State library room. 

With these valuable acquisitions the Society was given the 
use of the largest room in the building, formerly used as an ar- 
mory. 

For several years past, your body has voted them certain 
sums of money for current expenses, and to aid in purchasing 
books, relics, etc., and carrying out the general purposes of the 
Society. The members and executive officers of the Society have 
worked "con amore." No salaries have been paid except a mod- 
erate one for librarian. 

The State has reserved title to everything it has turned over 
to the Society, and the Society has formally conveyed to the 
State their title to all their present collection of whatever kind, 
(except loans made to the Society), everything they may here- 
after acquire (except loans), so that, whatever your body may 
do for the Society, you will be doing virtually for the State, as 
the State is the sole and entire owner of everything the Society 
now has or may hereafter acquire, (except loans). 

Those who have not been familiar with the growth of the So- 
ciety's collection, will, upon visiting their room now, be sur- 
prised to see what the energy and activity of the Society has 
accomplished. 

Their collection is now an excedingly varied, interesting and 



First Message to the Legislature. 



247 



valuable one. It has filled their large room to overflowing, and 
the crowded condition of their present exhibits and the con- 
stant accessions being made, render the necessity for more 
room imperative. 

The present quarters are entirely unsuitable in many respects, 
for the great and growing importance of this Society, its work 
and its collections. The room is on the third floor and is acces- 
sible with more or less difficulty and labor, and as this building 
is by no means a fire-proof structure, the whole collection is in 
constant danger of destruction by fire; and this danger is all 
the more felt from the fact that the most valuable articles in 
the collection are of such a character that no satisfactory in- 
surance can be had upon them. Insurance companies pay losses 
on intrinsic values; but how would you fix the intrinsic value of 
an autograph of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, 
LaFayette, Ben Franklin, Daniel Boone and others of like char- 
acter, or of old and valuable books, maps, etc., out of print, and 
not to be had at any price, or interesting relics and curios, im- 
possible to replace? 

Few of these things have much of what the insurance compa- 
nies call intrinsic value, but their sentimental and aesthetic val- 
ue is very great. To illustrate: 

A year or so ago, a gentleman from Kentucky, and a member 
of the Kentucky Historical Society, was in the rooms of our 
Historical Society, and saw an autograph report of a survey 
made by Daniel Boone, in this valley, in 1791. Wishing his 
Society to possess so interesting a relic of the brave old pioneer 
who founded the great State of Kentucky, this gentleman asked 
if our Society would part with the relic; he was told no, that it 
was not for sale. Pressing the matter, he asked if we would 
take $ 100 for it; again he was assured that it was not on the 
market. He then asked if f 500 would tempt us, and when the 
answer was the same he said: "Well, if you will make me an 
offer at, not exceeding f 1,000, and give me a ten days option, 
to see and consult our Society, I think we would buy it;" but he 
had to leave without the option. An insurance company might, 
possibly, be willing to pay five cents as the intrinsic value of 
this report, signature, frame and glass. 

In view of the valuable work the Society has done, is doing, 
and is expected to do in the future, in the interests of the State; 
in view of their urgent need of more accessible, roomy and bet- 



248 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



ter arranged quarters, and in view of the constant danger to 
which their valuable library and general museum are now ex- 
posed, I recommend that your body adopt the suggestion I have 
made to erect a fire-proof building for the occupancy, uses and 
purposes of this Society, and for other purposes therein stated. 

The importance and necessities of the case justify such an ap- 
propriation; the condition of our treasury fully warrants it, 
and I feel sure the public will appreciate it. 

A BOARD OF PARDONS. 

The State has become too populous for the pardoning power 
to be lodged wholly in one man. There should be a Board of 
Pardons with the Governor as final arbiter, as in the older and 
more populous States. The Constitution of our State lodges 
the pardoning power wholly with the Governor, and it is con- 
tended by some that the creating by the Leegislature of a Board 
of Pardons, would, therefore, be unconstitutional. To follow 
the strict letter, and not the spirit of the Constitution, such 
conclusion might be tenable. But a bill can be so framed, I am 
inclined to believe, that will not be unconstitutional. If a Par- 
don Board were created, the Governor could be made the final 
arbiter, so that no pardon could be granted by the Board which 
is not fully approved by the Governor, and thus, in point of 
fact, he would still hold complete control over any and all par- 
dons which might be recommended by the Board. 

If such a law were enacted, it would relieve the Governor of a 
vast amount of work and responsibility, and I am sure w-ould 
prove more satisfactory to the people. 

No one, unless he has passed through the ordeal of hearing 
pardon arguments, and being forced under existing law to pass 
upon all applications for executive clemency, can appreciate 
this matter. However careful, honest and judicious an execu- 
tive may be, he is invariably attacked for whatever he may do, 
and his motives are often impugned. This is unjust and wrong, 
and the only relief that I can conceive of lies in a legal Board 
of Pardons. 

While it is true that I have extended clemency to quite a good- 
ly number of unfortunates, it is also a fact that J reject ten, or 
more, applicants for everyone who receives recognition. I have 
released no one from the penitentiary except upon the most 
careful examination of all the facts involved in each case, and 



First Message to the Legislature. 



249 



thus fully satisfied my mind that relief should be granted. I 
have been amazed in many instances, by a careful examination 
of the evidence, to find men incarcerated in our State peniten- 
tiary upon evidence, which in my judgment, was wholly insuffi- 
cient to convict them. Under such circumstances I have inva- 
riably granted prompt relief. 

There is also another class of cases, which lawyers and courts 
class as "close cases." These cases require much earnest work 
by a Governor who is, as in our State, the sole pardoning 
power. The evidence must be carefully gone over, and the 
Judges and Prosecuting Attorneys must be consulted. In no in- 
stance have lever granted clemency in cases of this sort, without 
the unqualified recommendations of the Judges and State Prose- 
cutors. Indeed, I may add, that I have neA'er, except in very few 
instances, pardoned anyone unless his application was indorsed 
by the Judge, Prosecuting Attorney and Jury who convicted 
him. I regard this as a safe rule to be governed by, and I have 
rarely deviated from it. The Judge, Prosecuting Attorney and 
Jury who tried the case certainly should know more about the 
real merits of it than I could possibly acquire; consequently I 
depend almost wholly upon them to guide me in my action in 
granting pardons. 

There is still another class of cases which frequently come be- 
fore me, namely, where new and important evidence has been 
discovered after the trials took place. If this "newly discov- 
ered evidence," as the law-books term it, had been introduced 
at the trials, the verdicts doubtless would have been different. 
Such evidence comes before me in the form of affidavits, and 
after satisfying myself that the affiants are responsible persons, 
I receive them as proper evidence in the cases, and give them 
due weight and consideration. This, of itself, often brings un- 
due criticism upon the pardoning power. A newspaper repre- 
sentative may be present at a trial, and the case is a plain one. 
The party is convicted, and he is subsequently pardoned. His 
pardon is based wholly upon newly discovered evidence, but no 
consideration is given to this fact, because it is unknown to 
the public; yet the pardoning power is grossly and improperly 
censured, and a false motive is impugned for the release of the 
party. 

The best way out of all this trouble, is the creation of a Board 
of Pardons, which I trust, can be done without undue infringe- 



250 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



ment upon the Constitution of the State, because, as I have 
said before, the approval of the Governor will still be essential 
to give force and effect to the action of the Board, and the Gov- 
ernor, therefore, will still hold, in effect, 'the power to pardon, 
as required by the plain provisions of the Constitution. 

EXPENSES OF EXTRADITING PRISONERS. 

No little confusion has arisen the past year over the payment 
of the extradition expenses of persons fleeing* from justice to 
other States. The custom for many years past has been to pay 
bills of this sort out of the general criminal fund; but the law is 
indefinite upon this matter The law simply states that the 
Governor "may pay such expenses out of his civil contingent 
fund." This would be all right, if said fund was large enough 
to meet this outlay, along with the other necessary demands 
upon it. If y our honorable body adopts my suggestions to 
make a definite appropriation to pay the capitol labor force, 
this civil contingent fund can be used inpayment of the expenses 
incurred in bringing fugitives back to West Virginia to be tried 
for crimes committed. If, however, this is done, the law should 
nevertheless be amended so as to pay all extradition expenses 
out of the general criminal fund. 

CHAPLAIN TO THE PENITENTIARY. 

I desire to call your attention to the needs of a regular chap- 
lain to our State Prison. Hitherto, the local ministers of the 
city of Moundsville have kindly served the prison as best they 
could, in the way of preaching to the prisoners, advising them 
as to their spiritual interests, administering the rite of baptism, 
and in a general way urging them to reform and live better 
lives. But, in my judgment, the State ought to employ a regu- 
lar chaplain for the prison. Other progressive States have such 
an officer — one who is always present, and with whom the pri- 
soners can freely converse. We should have such an officer, who 
will give his entire time to this important work; and in the in- 
terest of good morals, good government and religion, such an 
officer should be provided by law. His salary need not be large. 
The State is fully able to meet this small expense in order to 
keep itself abreast of the times, and do its full duty in impart- 
ing moral and spiritual information to its criminal classes. 



First Message to the Legislature. 



251 



PROVISIONS FOR INDIGENT CHILDREN. 

I think it is apparent to everyone that our State is deficient 
in its provisions for the care of indigent and helpless children. 
We have no "Children's Home" for this purpose. There is a 
chartered institution of a State character, which attempts, at 
private expense, to meet this want. But it cannot be as effec- 
tive as it ought to be without some sort of State backing. Its 
purpose is to find homes for orphans and such other children as 
may need the aid of charitably disposed people. Our eleeo- 
mosynary institutions, such as poor-houses, which we have in 
all of our counties, are crude and in most cases, antiquated and 
poorly kept; and as a general rule, all those who by misfortune 
or disease are compelled to seek their forbidding and inhospit- 
able shelter, are compelled to leave all hope behind. In nearly 
every poor-house in the State are bright, hapless children, who 
have the blood and material iu them to make useful citizens if 
they were removed from the corrupting and debasing influences 
of their surroundings; but they are too young and tender to be 
self-supporting, and yet old enough to receive the impressions 
always gotten in the haunts of misery and dens of vice. 

The remedy that I have in mind is the enactment of a statute 
empowering the county courts or county commissioners of the 
various counties, to place with the Children's Home Society, or 
some similarly planned organization of the State, to be provid- 
ed in the Act, all children under the age of twelve years, who 
are of sound bodies and minds; reqniring said Society, or its 
properly authorized agents, to place and procure for each child 
in a certain specified time, a proper and suitable home in some 
good family, who may, if desired, adopt it, and empowering 
said court or commissioners to pay said Society reasonable 
charges and expenses for procuring such home. This, I believe, 
would not only be a great saving to the various counties, but 
would also be the means of lifting many a helpless one from 
misery, degradation and shame to a position, possibly, of com- 
parative usefulness and happiness for the future. 

CRIMINAL SLANDER AND LIBEL. 

I hope your honorable body will not misconstrue my motive 
in calling your attention to the fact that West Virginia should 
have a clearly defined statute on the subjects of slander and li- 



252 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



bei. Many of the States make the deliberate assassination of 
personal character a criminal offense. This should, in my opin- 
ion, be the law of all the States. One's good name, personal 
reputation and private character, should be classed on a level 
with his life. The law of all the States says the assassin shall 
be prosecuted criminally. The same law should say that the 
assassin of character ought also to be prosecuted criminally. 
It is not my purpose to infringe in the least upon the rights of 
free speech and a free press. This is a free country, and every 
citizen should be allowed to express himself freety, either viva 
voce, or in print. But there should be a law in every State pre- 
venting everyone from wilfully and deliberately attacking the 
private, personal character of another, without just cause. As 
the law now stands, there is no remedy for these attacks, ex- 
cept in the civil courts. In most instances, this is no remedy at 
all, for the reason that the majority of the persons who indulge 
in wholesale, unjustifiable and uncalled for abuse of another, 
are without financial responsibility, and a civil suit for dam- 
ages would necessarily prove futile. 

Men in public positions are just subjects for criticism. The 
genius of our free institutions rightly allows such procedure. 
When a public officer neglects or exceeds his authority, he ought 
to be criticised and held to public scorn. No one will dare to 
withhold this right from private individuals or public newspa- 
pers. In fact, it is their duty thus to act. But when an indi- 
vidual or a newspaper deliberately and wilfully attempts, with- 
out cause, to assassinate the character of an officer or a private 
citizen, there should be a law which fixes criminal responsibil- 
ity upon him for such act. A law of this sort can result in 
harming no well meaning citizen, and it certainly will protect 
the public generally from the machinations of ill-disposed, irre- 
sponsible individuals. I hope, therefore, that it will be your 
pleasure to give thoughtful consideration to this, as I view it, 
important suggestion. 

THE ELECTION LAW. 

The present election law needs radical amendment. The pur- 
pose of a ballot is to aid the voter in the expression of his choice 
for public officers and upon public questions; but the ballot pro- 
vided by the law as it now is, results in the practical disfran- 
chisement of hundreds of voters; and these are, by no means, 



First Message to the Legislature. 



253 



ignorant voters. The method of preparing the ballot is illog- 
ical. Re-counts by county courts should be stopped, and many 
other features of our present law need amendment. I beg espe- 
cially to call your attention to Senate Bill No. 161, introduced 
into the Senate of the last Legislature, as, in the main, a wise 
measure. It was very carefully prepared, and thoroughly con- 
sidered by several very capable gentlemen. It is based largely 
on the very excellent laws of Ohio and New York. Among its 
provisions are a simple and plain ballot, the provisions for 
more parties on election boards at each precinct, and at each 
county seat, as well as the burning of the ballots after they are 
counted by the precinct election officers. This latter provision 
will stop the recounts by county courts, which have disgraced 
the State in the past. 

IRREDUCIBLE SCHOOL FUND. 

Under our present Constitution a special fund was set apart 
for educational purposes, known as the ''Irreducible School 
Fund." This fund has been made up mainly out of the sales of 
school lands, or rather public lands, belonging to the State, 
which, when sold, the proceeds must be applied to the enlarge- 
ment of this fund. It is also provided that the interest only 
shall be used for educational purposes. The Fund now amounts 
to $927,993.21, $656,800.00 of which has been invested by the 
Board of the School Fund, in 5 and 6 per cent, interest bearing 
securities, and $271,193.21 now remains in State bank deposi- 
tories, which bears interest at the rate of three per cent, per an- 
num. 

As the Constitution now stands, the principal of this fund 
can never be used for any purpose. The object in establishing 
this particular fund, seems to have been to lay up money for 
the education of children of coming generations of West Virgin- 
ians. I have never been able to comprehend why we should lay 
aside money to educate the children of the future. When we 
compare the advantages in education which we enjoyed twenty- 
five years ago, with those now enjoyed by our children, we are 
struck with absolute amazement over the headway we have 
made in educational work. We have every reason to believe 
that the next twenty-five years willl bring with them still 
greater facilities and greater progress along these lines. Each 
succeeding generation will, as a matter of course, be better pre- 



254 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



pared to provide for itself in educational matters than the 
present and the past have done. Why, then, shall we pile up 
money by present taxation to educate coming generations? 
This, to my mind, is not only improper, but it seems to me 
ridiculous. It appears to me that all the available funds with- 
in our reach should be used in educating our present youth. 
Let each [succeeding generation provide for itself. This im- 
presses me as the common sense course to pursue. 

I, therefore, earnestly recommend your honorable body to 
submit to the people an amendment to our Constitution, direct- 
ing the distribution of this large fund, in reasonable annual in- 
stallments, until the same is consumed. If this were done, it 
will increase the school period from one to two months in every 
school district within the State, and will necessarily be of great 
advantage to our children who are now of the proper age to at- 
tend the public schools. 

IMMIGRATION. 

When I consider the natural advantages our State can of- 
fer to the settler in an agricultural way; as well as in the vast- 
ness of our minerals and other resources, I cannot but feel that 
we make a mistake in not having a thoroughly equipped immi- 
gration bureau, with a well paid officer in charge of the same. 
We have a State immigration agent, but no appropriation has 
hitherto been made, either for his salary or expenses, and the 
result is that he has been of but little value to the State in 
inviting settlers to come among us, notwithstanding the fact 
that he has done the best he could under the circumstances that 
surrounded him. I hope the law will be so amended as to ren- 
der this office of real value to the State. 

A STATE COMMISSIONER OF REVENUE. 

Every thinking citizen knows that West Virginia is annually 
defrauded out of tens of thousands of dollars of revenue, from 
improper reports of her property owners in their returns to 
county assessors. This should be remedied. There should be a 
uniform assessment upon all grades of personal property. Ev- 
ery one knows that this is not done. It can be done, and ought 
to be done. Our present law upon this matter is ineffective, be- 
cause all informers are classed as detectives and their reports 



First Message to the Legislature. 



255 



meet with almost universal disfavor. It seems to me that the 
remedy lies in the creation of an officer known as a "State Com- 
missioner of Revenue," whose duty it shall be to canvass the 
State, confer with assessors and see that all personal effects of 
every citizen are properly assessed. Such officer can earn ten 
or twenty times his salary by requiring proper returns of per- 
sonal property to be made to assessors for taxation. 

THE POINT PLEASANT MONUMENT. 

In February, 1875, the sum of f 3,500.00 was appropriated 
for the erection of a monument in commemoration of the battle 
of Point Pleasant, fought between General Andrew Lewis and 
the Indians in 1775. During your session of 1897, a joint reso- 
lution was passed, directing the Governor to appoint three 
commissioners, whose duty it shall be to take charge of said 
appropriation, and any other donations which may have been 
made for that purpose, and proceed to construct said monu- 
ment. 

In accordance with said joint resolution, I appointed Hon. 
John W. English, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Ap- 
peals, Hon. F. A. Guthrie, judge of the 7th judicial circuit, and 
Dr. A. R. Barbee, of Point Pleasant, as said commission. I have 
received a report from these honorable gentlemen, in which they 
state they have not undertaken the erection of the monument, 
mainly for the reason that it is believed that the fund at their 
disposal is not large enough to construct such a monument as 
they think should be erected. 

They report, moreover that the fund, which had grown to $7,- 
848.33, was loaned at 6 per cent, interest for the period of three 
years, on June 1, 1896, which was prior to the passage of the 
joint resolution above referred to. They further report that 
there is an additional fund of between $800 and $ 1,000, w T hich 
is also bearing 6 per cent, interest. These two amounts, adding 
interest, now aggregate about $10,000, which amount will con- 
struct only an ordinary monument. 

The Commissioners, in their report to me, suggest that an 
appeal be made to the legislatures of Virginia, Ohio and Ken- 
tucky for appropriations to aid in this work, for the reason 
that many of the decendents of those who were engaged in that 
important battle have made their homes in those States. 

While I fully agree with the Commissioners that the present 



256 Public Addresses. &c. of Gov. G. Y\\ Atkinson. 



fund is not sufficient to construct a very commanding structure, 
yet, it seems to me. that the suggestion they submit will be very 
difficult to carry into effect. 

I have submitted the facts to you so you can take such steps 
as you may deem proper in the premises. 

STATE PROPERTY AT BERKELEY SPRINGS. 

Under an Act of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, passed in 
1776, the wonderful springs at the town of Berkeley Springs 
became the property of the State; in trust. For some reason, 
this property has never been properly cared for and developed. 

A law should be enacted by which the intentions and plans of 
Lord Fairfax should be successfully carried out. 

It is admitted by scientists and experts of all parts of this 
great country of ours, that these springs have natural advan- 
tages unsurpassed, if equalled, in any other state, and they are 
held in trust by the State and I may say that it is a grave and 
sacred trust. This trust is now held by a board of directors, 
who have had it in charge for many years past. Somehow, the 
property has not developed, at least as I feel that it should have 
done, when I take into consideration the marvelous medicinal 
qualities of the water. The great drawback, in my judgment, is 
the board of directors is too large and too unwieldy. 

I. therefore, recommend that the statute be amended, fixing 
the number of the board at five — one from each congressional 
district and one at large: or if you deem it better, its manage- 
ment can be transferred to the State Board of Public Works. 

At all events, there should be a radical change in its supervi- 
sion, if it is expected that the property shall reach the standard 
which Lord Fairfax anticipated, when he donated it to the 
mother commonwealth one hundred and twenty-two years ago. 

PORTRAITS OF GOVERNORS. 

The portraits of governors of this State, now suspended in the 
Governor's reception room, are of a very inferior character, and 
are by no means creditable to the State, as to their style and 
execution. West Virginia is able to pay the necessary expense 
of having life-sized oil portraits of its governors, and I have no 
hesitancy in saying that it ought to be clone. I. therefore, ask 
that an appropriation be made for this purpose, and that a 



First Message to the Legislature. 



257 



committee be appointed — two from the House and one from the 
Senate, to carry it into effect; and that the work be done as soon 
as possible after the adjournment of the Legislature. 

CAPITOL LABOR FORCE. 

It requires in the neighborhood of §6,000 a year to pay the 
salaries of the men necessary to keep up the building and 
grounds, and to take proper care of the different offices in the 
building. The rule has hitherto been to pay these bills out of 
the Governor's Civil Contingent Fund. 

I beg to suggest that an appropriation should be made to 
pay the necessary salaries of these men, the same as other legi- 
timate expenses of the State, and that the same be paid out up- 
on the approval of the Board of Public Works, or if you prefer, 
upon the recommendation of the Governor, as it is now done. 

REPAIRS OF CAPITOL BUILDING. 

The State House needs a general repairing from cellar to 
dome. New carpets are necessary in the halls of every story of 
the building. Other improvements are also necessary to pro- 
perly preserve the building. A largely increased appropriation 
for these purposes is an absolute necessity. I respectfully ask 
the appointment of a joint committee to thoroughly look into 
this matter, and report thereon. 

ELECTRIC LIGHT PLANT. 

I recommend the purchase and construction of an electric 
light plant for the use of the Capitol building and Governor's 
Mansion. Such a plant will not cost over $7,000 to $8,000. 
The cost of lighting of the Capitol building amounts to nearly 
$4,000 a year. If the State owned its own electric plant, it 
would cost nothing additional to operate it, and it will pay for 
itself in, perhaps, less than two years, and at the same time the 
offices of the building will be much better lighted than they now 
are. Moreover, a large arc light could be placed at the front 
entrance of the building, without expense to the State, which 
light is badly needed and ought to be established whether the 
State does or does not own its own electric appliances. 

NEW BOILERS FOR CAPITOL BUILDING. 

The boilers in the Capitol building have been in constant use 



258 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



for twelve years, and they are practically exhausted. When 
new, these boilers were made of plates one-quarter inch in thick- 
ness. They are insured and are inspected every few months. 
They were carefully inspected but a few weeks since, and the in- 
spector informed me that they are well nigh exhausted. He ad- 
vises that a new outfit should be purchased as a guaranty of 
safety to the Capitol building. If new boilers are not purchas- 
ed, the present ones must be repaired at heavy expense, which, 
if done, will cost in the neighborhood of the price of new ones. 
To furnish new ones, you will have to appropriate the sum of 
$3,000. It seems to me that economy requires new boilers, in- 
stead of repairing the old ones, and incurring the risk of fires, 
which necessarily result from explosions. 

FOUNTAIN FOR CAPITOL GROUNDS. 

It is apparent to everyone who visits the Capitol grounds, 
that there should be a large fountain midway between the Capi- 
tol building and the street on the west side. The walk way is 
sufficiently wide to admit of it without in any way interfering 
with the ingress and egress of pedestrains. Such an appliance 
would add greatly to the appearance and real value of the pro- 
perty. 

I do not ask the Legislature to make an appropriation for 
this purpose, but I mention it with the hope that some one of 
our wealthy citizens will see fit to perpetuate his memory by 
erecting a monument of this character. I sincerely hope that 
before your body convenes again, you will be cheered and greet- 
ed by an ever flowing fountain, w T hose spray will be the delight 
and comfort of those who 'may pass it in the dark as in the 
light, 

MANSION PROPERTY. 

The Governor's Mansion and grounds are valuable property, 
and are steadily increasing in value every year. I found it nec- 
essary, in order to get the lot in proper shape, to purchase a 
parcel of ground, 52 feet front on Summers street, extending 
eastward toward the Mansion, for which I paid $50 per front 
foot, or $2,600 for the lot— or rather I agreed to pay that sum. 
I paid $600 in cash on the purchase out of the Governor's con- 
tingent fund, and have paid out of said fund $120 interest on 
the deferred payment. The value of said lot was fixed, at my 



First Message to the Legislature. 



259 



request, by ex-Governor W. A. McCorkle, Malcolm Jackson and 
Neil Bobinson and it is believed by them and by others also to 
be a reasonable and proper price for the property. It was ab- 
solutely essential to have this lot of ground to square up the 
mansion property, and I accordingly assumed the responsibil- 
ity of purchasing it. There remains due upon this purchase 
the sum of $ 2,000, with one year's interest at the rate of 6 per 
cent., for which I respectfully ask a special appropriation. 

In this connection, I desire to suggest the purchase of 35 feet 
more land, fronting on Capitol street, immediately south of the 
Mansion, and extending westward to Summers street. If this 
purchase were made, the lot would be in better shape, and 
would become much more desirable and valuable as well. In 
my judgment, this purchase should be made at the present ses- 
sion of the Legislature. 

I also desire to call attention to the great necessity of enlarg- 
ing the Governor's Mansion. I had a competent architect pre- 
pare a plan with this object in view. The plan will add four 
large rooms to the building at a cost of $1,800. Should you 
direct this to be done, the Summers street front of the Mansion 
will be much handsomer than the present front on Capitol 
street. The building is entirely inadequate for present needs. 
Moreover, the expenditure of f 1,800, upon the building, will 
incrase the actual saleable value of the property more than 
that amount, so that the State will gain, in the end, by the ex- 
penditure, instead of losing by the outlay. 

I expended the entire sum allowed by the last Legislature, 
($5,000), in furniture for and improvements of the Mansion 
property. The building was supplied with new furniture, elec- 
tric appliances were added, the grounds were carefully graded, 
and a large number of forest trees were planted upon the lawn. 
The property has been greatly improved and is now one of the 
most attractive residences in the city. If the size of the lot 
were increased 35 feet, as before suggested, and the addition 
made on the Summers street front, it would be among the most 
valuable and attractive dwellings in the State. 

The furniture in the Mansion is of the very best quality, and 
will last for years to come. 

PAKIS EXPOSITION. 



There will be held in the City of Paris, during the year 1900, 



260 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



an exhibition of the world's products. This exposition will 
offer to the States of the American Republic an opportunity to 
display to the world their natural resources, which they can ill 
afford not to avail themselves of. Besides assisting individual 
exhibitors or corporations at this great exposition to show their 
special productions, it has been arranged by the management 
to give special attention to a general exposition of the natural 
resources of each and every State of our great Republic. 

West Virginia cannot well afford to be without representation 
at this great exposition. One or more commissioners, it seems to 
me, should be sent from our State, and an appropriation should 
be made for their expenses and the expense also of sending to 
Paris a proper and creditable exhibit of our wonderful re- 
sources. 

The dignity and importance of the United States in arts, sci- 
ence and manufactures should be accuarately reflected in the 
character of the exhibits which are to be displayed in the Amer- 
ican Section of this great International Exposition, and with 
this object in view, you are respectfully invited to promote such 
interest therein as will tend to insure among the American ex- 
hibits the best represenation of the industries and institutions 
of the State of West Virginia. 

OHIO CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION. 

There will be held in the City of Toledo, in 1903, a Centennial 
Exposition of the origin, growth and commerce of this great 
sister State. Inasmuch as this State borders on West Virginia 
for three hundred miles, and is separated from it only by the 
Ohio river, which tells, in its meandering way to the sea, the 
story of two great States of the foremost republic on the earth, 
it is not too soon to take proper action to make a proper show- 
ing in this proposed exposition. I believe that our W r est Vir- 
ginia people have in them the spirit of progress which, if rightly 
used and conserved, will make the Ohio Valley the greatest valley 
in the world, and the States bordering upon it the conspicious 
States of the Republic. In location, climate, natural resources 
and possibilities, the States watered by the Ohio river are bound 
to be, in the near future, the heart of our great government of, 
for and by the people. 

This proposed Exposition must, of necessity, be a truly great 
affair. We, as a State, should arrange to share in it. I call 



First Message to the .Legislature. 



261 



your attention to the matter thus early, so that our people may 
be educated to properly share in the coming event. 

MARKING LINE BETWEEN WEST YA, MARYLAND AND 
PENNSYLVANIA. 

My attention has been called by the Governor of the State of 
Maryland to the necessity for a relocation and re-establishment 
of the boundary monuments of the "Mason's and Dixon's Line," 
between the States of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Mary- 
land. 

Prof. Henry S. Mitchell, of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey 
after an investigation of the question and of the existing docu- 
ments on file in his office, states, under date of November 26th, 
1898, — "This evidence shows that the original plan of marking 
the line by stones, carefully cut and prepared in England, was 
not carried out. That instead, on the western portion other cut 
stones were planted and mounds of loose stones were piled 
around them; that subsequently many of the monuments were 
displaced, possibly by searchers after treasure. In all likeli- 
hood a great many will be found in place. To re-examine and 
re-establish the old line would be a task of some magnitude, but 
need not be a very expensive one. It should only be entrusted 
to persons versed in the higher branches of surveying, and act- 
ing under joint authority of the adjoining States, that is, West 
Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. While the maintenance 
of boundary marks once established might be entrusted to 
county authorities, their re-location by such irresponsible au- 
thority would hardly be acceptable to the authorities of a differ- 
ent State." 

It seems necessary, to my mind, that there should be an ex- 
amination of the condition of the boundary marks on Mason's 
and Dixon's line. 

It would be most economical to combine, under joint states' 
authority, with such an examination, the re-placing of old marks 
where necessary, or the substitution of new ones where the old 
ones are in a state of decay. An engineer commission, with 
power to act, of three persons, one representing national and 
the other two the authority of the separate States, would seem 
to be ample. The result of their work could be submitted to 
the States concerned, for legislative approval. 

I am not prepared to submit an estimate, because much 



262 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G, W. Atkinson. 



would depend on circumstances, thatisonthe present condition 
of the marks, but I should think that $10,000 would cover the 
cost to the three States, leaving out the salaries of the State 
Commissioners. 

Prof. William Bullock Clark, the State Geologist of Maryland, 
estimates that a fair adjustment of the expense of $10,000 be- 
tween the three States would be for Pensylvania to furnish $5,- 
000, Maryland $3,500, and West Virginia $1,500, which ad- 
justment has has been arrived at after an estimated measure- 
ment of the length of the line and the proportionate expense for 
the respective States. Professor Clark states that the re-loca- 
tion of these markers is really a matter of very great impor- 
tance to the various land interests involved, and that he would 
be very glad to co-operate with the representativesjrom Penn- 
sylvania and West Virginia with a view to having the line proper- 
ly established under the joint supervision of the respective States 
and the United States. 

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS. 

That the present Constitution badly needs amending is gen- 
erally conceded. The Legislature, at its last session, appointed 
a committee to prepare a series of necessary amendments, which 
have been carefully prepared, and will be submitted to your 
honorable body for consideration during your present session. 
This matter is of grave importance to all of our people, and de- 
serves the most serious consideration at y our hands. 

REPOKT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL. 

The Attorney General is the law officer of the State, and many 
important legal questions have been referred to him by myself 
and by the Board of Public Works also. He has acted intelli- 
gently, vigorously and properly upon all questions referred to 
him; and his report will show that he has rendered to the State 
faithful and efficient service. The State is better off, by many 
thousand dollars, as a result of his ability and energy. I com- 
mend all that he has done, and I am confident that you will ap- 
prove his actions in his vigorous manner of requiring all parties 
to account to the people in strict conformity with the require- 
ments of our statutes. 



First Message to the Legislature. 



263 



STATE INSURANCE. 

At my instance the Board of Public Works took up the mat- 
ter of insurance of the property of the State. It was, and is my 
opinion that we are carrying very much more insurance upon the 
property of the State than should be carried, considering the 
cost of the property, and its depreciation by age and ''wear and 
tear." It was also believed that the policies were not carefully 
written, nor were they, according to insurance rules, properly 
concurrent. In cases of loss, insurance companies avail them- 
selves of every possible technicality, and in no instance do they 
ever pay anything above the actual loss by fire. Therefore, to 
carry excessive insurance is absolute folly. No business man 
does it, and a State should not do it. 

To ascertain all the facts, such as the actual cost of every 
building belonging to the State, the amount of insurance car- 
ried upon each, and the forms of all the policies as written, the 
Board of Public Works directed me to employ a competent in- 
surance adjuster and underwriter to make the necessary inves- 
tigations. The agent, thus employed, visited and inspected 
each State building, ascertained its cost, examined it carefully, 
copied all the forms of policies written thereon, and gave proper 
advice and suggestions in the way of preventing fires, and made 
a detailed report thereon, which report is on file in the office of 
the Secretary of State. 

One of the long-existing conditions which confronted the 
present administration was this insurance problem. For the 
purpose of ascertaining the necessary facts, it was deemed ad- 
visable to carefully investigate all of the insurance contracts in 
force, so as to understand the distribution of the insurance 
with reference to the actual valuation of the property insured, 
and to correct, if necessary, any existing irregularities. 

The following figures will show the condition in which the 
State's insurance was found, by the investigation above referred 
to: 

Insurance in force $956,241 

Valid (or real) insurance 421,503 

Void insurance 74,750 

Excessive insurance 459,988 

The above insurance cost the State, for the period of three 
years the sum of $ 17,519.94. On this the valid premiums are 



264 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



17,397.69, void premiums $1,271.50, and excessive premiums 
$8,850.75. Or of the entire insurance upon the State's proper- 
ty, it has been ascertained that forty-four per cent, is valid, 
eight per cent, is void, and forty-eight per cent, is excessive. 
Besides this, the greatest possible diversity in rating the same 
class of property among the same physical surroundings, occu- 
pied for the same purposes was also found to exist. 

It was likewise further ascertained that during the past 
twenty years, the State has paid to insurance companies for in- 
surance upon its property, an average of about $5,840 per 
year, or approximately $116,800, in aggregate, which with in- 
terest at three per cent, for one-half the twenty years, will ag- 
gregate $151,840; while the entire losses paid by insurance 
companies to the State, during the same period, will not reach, 
all told, the sum of $13,000. This shows a loss to the insur- 
ance companies of about one and one-tenth per cent, of the 
premiums paid by the State for its insurance. 

Under existing circumstances, the insurance on the State's 
property should either be revised in a manner justified by its 
unparalleled history as an insurance element, when considering 
the small per cent, of losses occurring upon it, or it may be 
deemed advisable for the State to carry its own insurance here- 
after. 

The Board of Public Works has deemed it expedient to reduce 
the amount of insurance upon the State's property to reason- 
able and proper limits, and has directed that all of the policies 
shall hereafter be made concurrent. 

It has also advised that greater precautions shall hereafter 
be taken to prevent the occurrence of fires in State buildings, 
and that reasonable sums of money be set apart for this pur- 
pose rather than expend unnecessary funds in excessive insur- 
ance. 

STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 

The commission organized soon after the adjournment of the 
last session of your honorable body, and employed Prof. I. C. 
White as State Geologist. Work was begun at once, and has 
been carried on as rapidly as the appropriation would allow. 
The report of the commission has been carefully prepared, and 
will be submitted to you for your consideration. The report 
gives in detail the work that has been accomplished. I am of 



Opinion of Polygamy. 



265 



opinion that a Geological Survey of the State should be com- 
pleted as soon as possible, because it will be of more real value 
to West Virginia in the way of its development than any other 
thing that can be done. The Commission, as the report will 
show, has been greatly hampered because of the smallness of 
the appropriation for that purpose. Larger appropriations 
should be made to carry on the work successfully and speedily. 

CONCLUSION. 

My prerogative^ is only of an advisory character. My pur- 
pose is to suggest measures which I believe to be for the best in- 
terests of all of our people. 

In conclusion, I sincerely hope that all you do may be done 
with an eye single to the advancement and development of our 
great State. The joint effort of all our people will make West 
Virginia even greater than she now is, in all that contributes to 
the well being, prosperity and happiness of all her people. 

I wish you a pleasant sojourn at the capital, and sincerely 
hope that your session will be productive of the highest good 
to all. It will afford me pleasure to render you all the assist- 
ance in my power to enable you to carry forward your deliber- 
ations as the law making body of our State. 

GEO. W. ATKINSON. 

Charleston, W. Va., January 9th, 1899. 



POLYGAMY. 

Governor Atkinson's Opinion of Polgamy. 
January 16, 1899. 



Miss Grace J. Cutler, 

Koom 79, No. 160 Nassau Street, 

New York. 

Dear Miss: 

I am against polygamy heart and soul. It is wrong in prin- 
ciple, and ought to be stamped out of existence. No man should 



266 Public Addresses, Sec, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



have more than one wife at one time. Any man who claims the 
right to have more than one wife is an enemy of the human 
family, and is an enemy also to the Christian religion. For 
more than thirty years I have endeavored to stand with the 
people of our Country, who believe in good morals, good gov- 
ernment, and for the maintenance of good laws, and above all 
for the protection of the homes of all of our people. 

No man should be entitled to more than one wife at one and 
the same time. He who assumes to marry more than one 
woman, while he has a living wife, is an enemy of civilization, 
and is also an enemy of the Christian religion. Such an one is 
unworthy of the consideration of all decent people. I believe in 
the sanctity of the home, and above and beyond everything 
else, I believe in the teachings of the Christian religion. 

Please do not misunderstand me. I do not profess to be bet- 
ter than anybody else. What I want to say is, that no man 
should have plural wives. .One wife, while she lives, is enough 
for any one man on this earth; and he who has more than one 
wife, at one time, is not my sort of a man, and he ought to be 
ignored by all decent, well-meaning men and women every- 
where. 

Very truly yours, 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of West Virginia. 



REMARKS 

Of Governor Atkinson at the Opening of the Hospital for In- 
curables at Huntington, West Virginia. 



February 2, 1899. 



Members of the Board of Regents, Ladies and Gentle- 
men:— 

It is not my purpose this evening to attempt more than to 
deliver a few remarks. This, it seems to me, is an unusually 
important occasion. We have assembled here in this, one of the 



Opening Address at Home for Incurables. 



267 



principal business centres of the State, to formally open, and in a 
sense dedicate the latest and last of our growing State's eleeo- 
mosynary institutions. The plan of the institution has been 
adopted, and I must say that it is not only a good one, but it 
is a great one, and one of the several edifices according to the 
plan, has been completed, and is now ready for occupancy. 
The purpose of the law is to establish a home for the people of 
our State, who are afflicted with incurable maladies, and who 
are financially unable to care for themselves. Health of body 
is the chief ingredient of human happiness, and no one appre- 
ciates it properly until he goes down in the deep, dark pit of 
bodily affliction. Then, he stops and thinks and cries for relief 
and help; and alas! how many of them, when thus stricken, 
find themselves totally unable to do anything for themselves. 
The world loves the champion of the weak, the distressed, the 
unfortunate; and this is why many of the States are providing 
hospitals for their indigent incurables. 

Sometimes men and States are blamed for rendering aid too 
freely to the hapless and the helpless; but not often, my friends, is 
this done by intelligent men and women. Some are close-fisted, 
some are stingy, some are inherently mean; but the great bulk 
of the people are charitable, honest, liberal. Aristotle having 
been blamed, on one occasion, for giving alms to an unworthy 
person, said, "I gave, but it was to mankind." No nation, no 
people can permanently prosper that make no permanent pro- 
vision for the sick, the needy and the poor. 

Dr. Adam Ferguson, the author of a great book entitled the 
"Spirit of Laws", a work which must ever be regarded as the 
production of a most enlightened mind, has built a great deal 
of plausible and ingenious reasoning on this general idea, that 
the three distinct forms of government, the monarchical, the 
despotic, and the Eepublican, are influenced by three separate 
principles, upon which the whole system in each form is con- 
structed, and on which it must depend for its support. The 
principle of the monarchical form is honor; of the despotical is 
fear; and of the republican, virtue; a position, which, if true, 
would at once determine to which of the three forms the prefer- 
ence ought to be given in speculating on their comparative de- 
grees of merit. But I am going to add another, my friends, to the 
third class— the Kepublic— and that is Charity. A Democratic 
government, above all others, provides best for its needy and 



268 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



helpless citizens, and this is why we are here to-night throwing 
the doors of this, soon to be very great institution, open to 
that class of our people. 

It is not the purpose of the State, in this work, my fellow cit- 
izens, like Julian the Apostate, to confiscate the property of 
the Church, or of any one to carry it forward, and divide the 
proceeds among the poor as Julian did to provide for their 
needs, but to tax all proportionately and alike, that the needy 
and the helpless may advance with more diligence in the paths 
of virtue and salvation. It is true heroism to do right; and it 
is right, forever right, for an enlightened State to provide all 
necessary comforts for its helpless, indigent incurables. This, 
West Virginia is starting out to do, and God, and all good peo- 
ple helping, she will do it, and do it well. 

Bread cast upon the waters will some day return again. I 
once read a story told by the eminent Father Mathew's bio- 
grapher of a poor, water-carrier woman in London, who found 
an infant in a basket one morning at her door. She took it to 
the good father, who advised her to carry it to the Children's 
Home, which she did. The next day she returned to the rectory, 
declaring that she had not slept a wink all night for parting 
with the infant which God had placed in her way, and insisted 
that she must have it back again. The child was restored to 
her. A few 3^ears afterwards she became blind, and Father 
Mathew stated that this hapless child had led her daily for 
years, as she earned her living by carrying water along the 
streets of London. I would, my fellow citizens, gladly sacrifice 
the wealth and power of this wide world to secure to myself the 
glorious welcome which awaits that poor, blind woman on the 
great accounting day. 

But I must not talk too long. Too much praise cannot be 
given to the energetic Board of Directors of this the latest of 
our State, eleemosynary enterprises. At the risk of uninten- 
tionally offending all the other members of the Board, I must 
say that to one person— the president, Mrs. Ruffner— more than 
tu any other citizen or member of the Board, this institution 
owes its existence to-night. Let us all stand by her faithfully, 
and its future will be assured. Good citizenship demands this, 
if it demands no more. 



The North and the South. 



269 



THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH. 

February 6, 1899. 



Editor "Grit", 

Williamsport, Pa. 
Dear Sir: 

Replying to your courteous inquiry of the 3rd inst., relative 
to the attitude taken by President McKinley upon his recent 
trip through the South, I beg to say that I most heartily en- 
dorse every one of his published public utterances delivered up- 
on that trip. The time has certainly arrived when we should 
have no North and no South. I am glad the President is big 
enough, although a soldier in the late Union Army, to lose sight 
of where the North ends and the South begins. The late War 
with Spain has brought the two sections of our country very 
much closer together. I am a Virginian, and naturally have a 
warm feeling for the Southern people. I am, nevertheless, a Re- 
publican in politics. I sincerely hope that many more of the 
large, broad thinkers of the Republican party will come up to 
President McKinley's standard relative to sectionalism in our 
Republic. The South is the richest part of our country in na- 
tural resources, and, sooner or later, it will be so established. 
I have always stood for both the North and the South, and 
shall continue so to stand. 

Very truly yours, 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor. 



FIRST W. VA. VOLUNTEERS. 

Governor Atkinson pays a High and Deserved Compliment to 
the Returning Soldiers of that Regiment. 



(From Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, Feb. 15, 1899.) 

Charleston, W. Va., Feb. 14.— Few regiments in the United 
States volunteer service during the war with Spain have re- 



270 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



ceived a higher compliment than this, which was paid by Gov- 
ernor Atkinson, to the First West Virginia regiment. In an in- 
terview, discussing the return of the regiment, the Governor said: 

"When the country called for volunteers to defend the flag, 
our young men climbed over one another to get into the army. 
AVhen the President asked me for a full regiment of volunteers 
to fight the Spaniards, it was not a question with me as to who 
should go, or who could go to the front, but who could not go. 
We could only send one Regiment under the call, and I realty 
needed a full regiment of able-bodied soldiers to protect me 
from keeping the whole fighting force of the State out of the 
army. I promptly decided that the first regiment of volunteers 
should be made up from our State troops, and that outsiders 
should not apply. The first call for volunteers was accordingly 
made up from our State guard. The boys went, and they filled 
the bill. They proved themselves — officers and privates — wor- 
thy of the trust. Upon every test, they were first class. They 
could not be otherwise. The regiment was composed of our 
very best young men. The officers were men of military train- 
ing. They were educated as to their duties. They knew what 
would be required of them; they knew their business, and they 
acquitted themselves like men. 

"On more than one occasion I talked with the Secretary of 
War, and the Adjutant General of the Army, as to the real mer- 
its of our First Regiment of volunteers, and both of them ad- 
mitted to me that there was no superior regiment of volunteers 
in the entire service. This I expected, because I knew our boys 
officers and men. 

"I wish you would say to the people of West Virginia, for me, 
that I am justly proud of the record that this regiment has 
made in the Spanish war. They have acquitted themselves 
honorably and well, and they are entitled to the thanks and the 
praise of every true West Virginian, and of every true Ameri- 
can, as well. They leave the service of their country, at the 
command of the President, because their services are no longer 
needed, with a record second to no other volunteer regiment in 
the army, and with a crown of laurels which will cluster around 
them forever more. They are true men, true patriots, true 
Americans, and all true West Virginians will honor them while 
they live, and our children's children will honor them after they 
are gone. May God bless our First West Virginia boys." 



Special Message to the Legislature. 271 



(Editorial, Wheeling Intelligencer.) 

In an interview elsewhere published, Governor Atkinson pays 
an eloquent tribute to the First West Virginia volunteer regi- 
ment, officers and men, incident to their return from the service. 
What he says is all true, for the records of the war department 
bear him out. No regiment in the volunteer service stood high- 
er in all particulars. West Virginia has reason to be proud of 
this fact, and will heartily agree with the Governor that the 
regiment has "acquitted itself honorably and well, and is enti- 
tled to the thanks and praise of every true West Virginian." 



SPECIAL MESSAGE. 

Special Message From the Governor. 
February 20, 1899. 



Executive Chamber, 

Charleston, W. Va., February 20, 1899. 
To the Senate and House of Representatives, 
Gentlemen: 

I believe all of you will agree that I have not sought in any 
way to influence legislation, except indirectly by consultation 
with individual members, as they have called upon me. 

In my message to your honorable body, at the opening of the 
present session, I directed your attention to the danger and 
possible loss, by fire, of our public records, libraries &c, and 
respectfully asked that a reasonable appropriation be made for 
the construction of a fire-proof building for the better security 
of the same. 

Your honorable body promptly recognized the importance of 
the suggestion, and took proper steps to secure the same. A 
scare — and only a scare— came along in the shape of an effort 
to remove the capital from Charleston, where the people by a 
majority vote had located it permanently, and as a result of 
such scare, the movement to construct such fire-proof building, 
was almost immediately dropped. 

It is not my purpose to present an argument in favor of any 



272 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



particular place for the seat of Government for the State, but 
it is my purpose to again call your attention to the necessity 
for a safer deposit for our public records than we now have. 

I therefore again ask your special attention to this very im- 
portant matter, and I again urge you to carry out the sugges- 
tions presented in my message to you at the beginning of your 
present session upon this, to my mind, all important subject. 

A fire in the Capitol building will be a public calamity. No 
one knows when it may come. All of us, who are familar with 
the construction of the State-house, know what the result will 
be, if a conflagration should occur. A few thousand dollars 
properly expended in the way of reasonable preservationary 
measures, may save the State an incalculable loss. 

Last Saturday, I directed the janitor to remove all waste and 
combustible substances from every portion of the building, as 
a proper precautionary measure. It may be that the building 
will never burn, and it may occur at any time. 

I again urge upon you the importance of ordering the con- 
struction of a suitable fire-proof building for the safe keeping of 
all of our importa nt public records. The burning of the Capitol 
of Kentucky, a few days ago, and the loss of that State's re- 
cords should be a warning to us. 

Your most obedient servant, 

G. W. Atkinson, 

Governor. 



VETO 

By Governor Atkinson of Court House Removal Bill. 



February 21, 1899. 



HOUSE BILL NO. 201. 



A BILL to amend and re-enact section fifteen of chapter thirty- 
nine, of the Code of West Virginia, as amended and re-enacted 



Veto of Court House Removal Bill. 273 



by chapter thirty-one, of the Acts of one thousand eight hun- 
dred and ninety-five. 

(February 6th, 1899,— By Mr. Bee. Referred to Judiciary Com- 
mittee. February 8— Reported back with the recommedation 
that it do pass. Passed Feby. 18, 1899.) 

This Bill is returned without approval, for the] reason that 
the closing paragraph of the same is clearly in conflict with the 
Constitution of the State. The language of the Bill to which I 
specially object is as follows: "Provided, however, That where 
the people of any county have voted on a question of relocating 
the county seat, no vote on a like question shall be taken with- 
in five years thereafter. And this shall apply to county seat 
elections held prior to the passage of this act, as well as to such 
elections held thereafter." 

There is no doubt in my mind that this provision abridges 
the rights of the people in the several counties of the State, as 
well as the County Courts thereof, to properly control county 
business and county affairs. It is the indisputable, inalienable 
and indefeasible right of the people, under our Constitution, of all 
the counties of our State, to reform, alter or abolish their own fis- 
cal and police affairs, as well as to control all other matters per- 
taining to the interests of the people in the several counties of the 
State, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the 
public weal. To abrige these rights, therefore, in my judgment, 
is clearly unconstitutional. 

While this act purports to be one of a general nature, it is in 
effect an act for a special purpose, and as such, forbidden by the 
Constitution, See Section 39, Article 6; also case of Groves etal. 
v. County Court of Grant County, 42 West Virginia Reports, 
page 587. 

Moreover, the section of the Bill above quoted, is retrotrac- 
tive, and is therefore necessarily ex post facto, because it is - 
made to apply to elections held prior to the passage of the Act. 
It is my duty, in consequence of the manifest existence of these 
facts to veto the same. 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor. 

Charleston, February 21, 1899. 



274 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



SEMI-VETO 

By Governor Atkinson, of House Bill No. 51— A Bill fixing the 
Liability of Fire Insurance Companies. 

To the Senate and House of Delegates:— 

Lcannot but belie ve that this Bill is contrary to public policy. 
Instead of proving a benefit to those for whom it was intended, 
it will, in my judgment, injure them. It only applies to build- 
ings, and not to personal property. I can see no good reason 
why a statute should require the payment of the face of a pol- 
icy on a building, and only require the payment of the actual 
loss on its contents. Why not make the same requirements as 
to both classes of property? A man is not more likely to over 
insure the contents of his house than the house itself. 

Under this bill, merchants and manufacturers, in case of fire, 
can only recover the loss actually sustained and no more; and 
the same is intended to be true of those having insurance upon 
buildings, in cases of partial losses (but which is not really 
true), as they, too, can recover only the actual damage done; 
but if the entire building is destined, the full face of the policy 
must be paid by the insurance company, whether the loss be 
one-fourth, one-half, or three-fourths the amount of the policy. 
This is manifestly wrong and unjust. 

I cannot construe the following language in this Bill, and I do 
not believe any one else can determine definitely the intention 
of its framer. I quote: "The basis upon which said loss shall 
be computed, shall be the amount stated in the policy of insur- 
ance affected upon said property." If the intention was to se- 
cure insurance upon the actual value of the property, up to the 
amount of the policy, then the basis of adjustment should be 
the actual value of the loss. This language can be construed, 
and doubtless will be construed, (because practically all partial 
losses under this Bill will be taken to the Courts), that the 
amount of insurance upon the property shall represent its full 
value. In case of loss, under such construction, a house, the 
actual value of which, is, say f 4,000.00, sustains a loss of $2,- 
000.00, with $1,000.00 insurance upon the building, the loss, 



Semi- Veto of House Bill No. 51. 



275 



in this case, being one-half of the value of the property, the 
amount to be paid upon the insurance in this case, would, there- 
fore, be one-half of the face of the policy, which is supposed to 
represent the full value of the property insured. In this in- 
stance, the insured, who has paid for $ 1,000.00 insurance, un- 
der this, which seems to me, reasonable construction of this Bill, 
the owner of the property insured could only recover one-half 
of the insurance he had bought, viz: $500.00, while his actual 
loss is double the amount of his insurance, or one-fourth of the 
value of his property. The patrons of this bill never intended 
anything of this sort, and yet this must be the result when the 
case comes before a court, where in most cases of partial loss 
they will surely land. 

The object of insurance is to protect one against actual loss, 
and not to give something for nothing. No honest man should 
expect to be better off financially after a fire than he was be- 
fore it occurred. No law, therefore, should ever be enacted 
that will induce any citizen, who by connivance with agents of 
insurance companies or otherwise, to insure his property for 
more than its actual value, knowing that in case of total loss 
by fire, he would be paid more money than he had actually lost, 
and knowing also that there can, under this law, be no adjust- 
ment of the loss. Such a law, it seems to me, will be a stand- 
ing bribe to every person dishonestly inclined, who holds insur- 
ance upon his property, to willfully destroy the same, in order 
to make money by the deal. 

The operation of this law will certainly destroy the interest 
which its promoters would have it protect. The " Valued Pol- 
icy" has not proved satisfactory in the States that have en- 
acted it. It has doubled the opportunities of dishonest people 
to rob insurance companies, and has increased the rates of in- 
surance upon the property of the honest insurer. Moreover, 
since no question can be raised by the insurance companies in 
the adjustment of a total loss, a dishonest man can procure in- 
surance upon his property from a number of companies, at the 
same time, and in this way law-abiding citizens would fall victims 
to incendiaries, irresponsible fire insurance companies, and ruin- 
ous disasters at the hands of an element, prompted by specula- 
tion to enter our State; business will necessarily be injured 
thereby, and the protection we now enjoy at the hands of re- 
sponsible insurance companies, especially in country districts, 



276 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



will measurably cease, for the reason that many of them will 
entirely withdraw from operations within the State. 

A policy of insura nce is a contract of indemnity only, and cov- 
ers the interest of the insured in the property and not the prop- 
erty itself. Let the insured use the same business discretion in 
placing insurance on his property that he would in other trans- 
actions, then the benefits arising from an investment in the form 
of premiums paid to Fire Insurance Companies would operate 
as a legitimate protection instead of a speculation, such as I 
fear the possible operation of the law as expressed in this bill 
would prove to be. 

Insurance companies are conducted on the same basis as 
other legitimate branches of business. They must secure reason- 
able interest on their capital invested, and receive proper com- 
pensation for the services of those persons who operate them in 
the legitimate conduct of their business. If the sphere of their 
operations is narrowed, as this bill will surely bring about, (be- 
cause insurance companies will not assume risks in country 
sections which their special agents cannot personally inspect), 
all persons requiring insurance for protection only, will be 
required to pay higher rate premiums for protective insur- 
ance, and in this way the loss of premiums for insurance 
in country districts will have to be made up by citizens in the 
towns and cities, whose properties are accessible and can be in- 
spected by special agents of the insurance companies. The nat- 
ural result, therefore, of the enforcement of this law will be that 
the people who insure for protection only, must by increase of 
rates, make up the loss or fall off in the volume of the business 
of the insurance companies. 

The enactment of a law of this character will inevitably be to 
the commercial interests of the people of West Virginia a wrong 
which cannot easily be estimated. It will unquestionably prove 
to be a menace to business, a bid for incendiarism, a discourage- 
ment to legitimate enterprises, an act that will deprive the State 
of its legitimate revenue, and in its effect prove to be practically 
a calamity on all well meaning people. The history of this class 
of legislation wherever it has appeared in sister States, has been 
one of disastrous experience to the law abiding citizens. It 
will, if rigorously carried into effect, eliminate responsible Fire 
Insurance as a protection, and in the end will work the greatest 
possible wrong to our* people at large. 



Semi-Veto of House Bill No. 51. 



277 



To recapitulate, my objections to the Bill are briefly expressed 
as follows: 

1. It is against public policy. 

2. It cannot accomplish the object for which it was intended. 

3. It applies only to real estate, and not to personal prop- 
erty, and is, therefore, class legislation. 

4. It requires full payment of the face of the policy in case 
of total loss, without reference to the amount of the actual 
loss. 

5. It is so indefinite as to partial losses, as to require a law 
suit to determine the result, and will therefore throw into the 
Courts of the State the determination of practically all the fires 
on real property insured, unless the loss is total. 

6. It requires the adjustment of a loss by the insurance com- 
panies before any loss occurs, which is inconsistent, unreason- 
able and expensive both to the insurance company, and the in- 
sured. 

7. It offers inducements to people owning houses, to insure 
them for more than they are worth, and then burn them to re- 
cover the insurance. 

8. It is an opeu bid to insurance agents, in order to secure 
commissions, to conspire with parties securing insurance for the 
mutual benefit of both parties, to demoralize the people, and at 
the same time destroy the legitimate business of fire insurance, 
which experience has shown to be a public necessity. 

9. It will necessarily narrow the scope of the operations of 
legitimate fire insurance companies, and in order that they may 
be able to carry on a legitimate fire insurance business, the 
premium rates must be increased upon honest citizens, who, of 
necessity, must carry insurance. 

10. It will drive out of our State many solid and safe insur- 
ance companies, that are a public necessity. 

11. As all insurance companies pay into the State Treasury 
two per cent, of their gross incomes, it will defraud the State 
Treasury out of a large amount of legitimate revenue. 

12. "Valued Policy" laws of this character have not proven 
satisfactory in the States that have tried them, and it seems to 
me that we ought to profit by the experience of other and older 
States. 

13. The demand for the passage of this law comes in the 
character of a public clamor, based upon a false idea, and it is 



278 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



never safe to yield to a clamor of any sort. Such measures al- 
ways react with terrific force. 

14. It will turn loose upon our people a lot of "wildcat" in- 
surance companies, which will write policies on property at any 
rate and for any amount, and never pay a loss when a fire oc- 
curs. 

In view of all the facts before me, I cannot, and will not in- 
dorse this Bill; but inasmuch as it was passed practically by an 
unanimous vote of the House of Delgates, and by a decisive 
majority of the Senate, which reveals to my mind the fact that 
the people of West Virginia are determined to test the measure; 
and believing that this sentiment will not down until it has been 
fully tested by the people, I waive my better judgment by de- 
clining to veto the measure, and allow it to have a fair trial 
by the people, 

In doing this, I confess that I will be criticized, but I honestly 
feel that it is the quickest and best way to determine the mat- 
ter. I have long since learned that there is no school so effec- 
tive as the school of experience. 

I ask that this protest be spread upon the journals of the 
Senate and House of Delegates. 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of West Virginia. 

Executive Chamber, 

Charleston, W. Va. 

Feby. 23, 1899. 
Note.— The reason that I did not veto this measure outright, 
was because it would have been passed over my veto, in less 
than thirty minutes, which would have raised complications I 
wanted to avoid. 

G. W. Atkinson. 



Veto of House Bill No. 217. 



279 



VETO 

By Governor Atkinson of House Bill No. 217— A Bill to Tax 
Express Companies, Etc. 

To the Senate and House of Delegates:— 

This is a measure of no ordinary importance to the people of 
West Virginia, as it concerns all who transmit packages through 
express channels, and I have accordingly given careful attention 
to the same. 

The right of the State to tax express companies engaged in 
business in this State, upon a fair and equitable basis in ac- 
cordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the State, 
cannot be questioned; but the question upon which I am called 
to pass is whether this bill is equitable in principle and whether 
it is in conflict with the Constitution of this State, and of the 
United States. It not only adopts as a basis of taxation the 
gross receipts of such companies, but Section 4 imposes upon 
such companies license fees of a burdensome character which 
do not apply to other foreign corporations of like character, 
doing business in this State. 

1st. It requires every Foreign Express Company to file num- 
erous statements and documents, for each of which is exacted a 
license fee of five dollars. 

2nd. It exacts two dollars for each certificate of authority is- 
sued to each agent in charge of each office, station or place to 
receive or deliver packages or perform the services for such com- 
pany, and requires such certificate to be renewed annually and 
as often as a new agent shall be appointed. These license fees 
are of an arbitrary character, and are based, as I understand it, 
upon no ideas of the business conducted at the different offices, 
and will, in the course of a year, amount to a very large and 
burdensome sum of money to the companies interested, if not 
to the people who patronize them. 

It is in effect levying upon the part of the State a fee upon 
each individual employed by such companies to conduct a le- 
gitimate and necessary business in every civilized community; 
a business possessing no ordinary characteristics, as I see it, t o 



280 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



justify the exactions of such license fees. Can any good and de- 
fensible reason be assigned why any special authority or license 
should be required on the part of the State to be issued to the 
agents of an express company any more than to the agents of 
a railroad company, a steamboat company or any other com- 
mon carrier, or to any company appealing to the public for its 
business or patronage? It was evidently done in the case of 
such express companies not only for the purpose of requiring 
them to pay a proper tax which I think should be done, but the 
purpose of the bill goes farther and seemingly forms a basis for 
the purpose of exacting tribute — a principle of legislation which 
has always been condemned by all first class civilized countries, 
and which finds its only refuge and countenance in modern 
times in the barbarous and cruel exactions of the Spanish na- 
tion in dealing with her oppressed colonist and the business con- 
ducted by them for the purpose of exacting revenue. So far as 
my investigation has been conducted on this subject, there is 
absolutely no warrant or authority in our constitution, or 
the constitution of the United States, to justify the levying of 
any such arbitrary tax or tribute. 

Our constitution provides that "No one species of property 
from which a tax may be collected shall be taxed higher than any 
other species of property of equal value"; and it further pro- 
vides that "The Legislature shall have power to tax, by uniform 
and equal laws, all privileges and franchises of persons and cor- 
porations." It cannot be questioned, therefore, that it was the 
intention of the constitution, by this provision, to require that 
all exactions from all persons, corporate or otherwise, engaged 
in similar business partaking of a public character, should alike 
be required to pay tribute and bear the burdens of taxation 
upon an equal and equitable basis. 

This Bill classifies express companies as common carriers. 
They are universally recognized by the commercial world and 
the courts as such, and stand exactly as railroad companies, 
steamboat companies and stage lines, as well as delivery com- 
panies in cities and towns; and any special exactions in the 
shape of taxes, licenses or tribute levied upon any one of such 
companies or carriers, and not upon all such similarly situated, 
is directly repugnant to the spirit of the above provisions of the 
constitution; and I cannot but believe that it is also in direct 
violation of the same. 



Veto of House Bili/No. 217. 



281 



There are classes of business, such as the vending of liquors, 
which owing to its recognized tendency for evil and injuries to 
morals and health, under the police powers of the State, which 
justifies the legislature in singling them out and legislating in 
a drastic manner to prevent these evils and demanding special 
tribute to compensate the public for the injuries and burdens 
brought upon the community by the conduct of such business. 
But, can any intelligent or fair minded man allege any like 
grounds connected with the express business to justify any such 
exactions or regulations; or can any fair minded legislator fail 
to distinguish between the two characters of business? To jus- 
tify any such exactions on any such principles from express 
companies, or other common carriers, it seems to me, is a re- 
flection upon the intelligence or sense of justice of our people. 

The 5th Section of this Bill requires all express companies to 
pay into the State treasury two cents upon each package han- 
dled by ,it. The profits derived from the express business are 
dependent upon the amount of business conducted, and the 
managers of the business, like any other intelligent people, en- 
gaged in modern business, attempt to fix their rates to encour- 
age the augmentation of business and to leave them a profit. 
If special exactions are imposed upon them, they are compelled 
to increase their rates of charges to save themselves from loss. 
The only result of this special exaction, it seems to me, will be 
to cause the companies to increase their charges, and instead 
of being an exaction from the companies, will be in the end a 
tribute exacted from the citizen, who makes a shipment, and 
would be the same as if the Legislature had singled out and re- 
quired this tax to be paid in the first instance by the shipper, 
which action, every one will admit, would meet with universal 
condemnation. 

It is questionable in my mind whether Section 6 of this Bill, 
does not prohibit the different municipalities from taxing the 
personal or tangible property of express companies, or in any 
wise deriving any revenue from the profits or busines of such 
companies. This evidently was an oversight of the author of 
the Bill, or otherwise he would have been more explicit in the 
language used. 

Section 8 provides that "any officer, manager or agent who 
shall make any false statement or oath respecting the matters 
and things therein required to be stated and sworn to, shall be 



282 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



deemed guilty of a felony and punished by imprisonment in the 
penitentiary for not less than one year nor more than three 
years." This is a harsh and unjustifiable provision, and does 
not correspond with the penalties imposed upon others guilty 
of like offenses. In other cases, the offense is only a misdemean- 
or, while in this Bill the same offense is made a felony, punish- 
able by confinement in the penitentiary. But its harshness 
does not stop with this. It makes the simple fact of making a 
false statement or oath a felony, regardless of the fact as to 
whether such statement or oath was made knowingly or will- 
full}". If such untrue statement or oath is made merely by mis- 
take or inadvertence, it makes it a crime and visits this severe 
penalty, which is contrary to a well settled principle of criminal 
law. Our statute, in order to make a false statement perjury, 
expressly requires that such statement shall be "willfully and 
knowingly." To provide that an untrue statement, not made 
willfully, but through mere inadvertence, error or mistake, 
should subject the party to imprisonment in the penitentiary, 
and the disgrace which follows, can hardly find tolerance among 
civilized people. Surely this requirement was not intended by 
the author of the Bill before me. 

The license fees exacted by this Bill apply alone to the agents 
of foreign express companies, and the payment of the same is a 
condition precedent to the transaction of business by such com- 
panies within the State. This provision of the Bill is plainly 
unconstitutional, and has been so expressly decided by the Su- 
preme Court of the United States in the case of Crutcher vs. The 
Commonwealth of Kentucky, in 141 U. S. Supreme Court Re- 
ports, page 47. The Court in that case holds that such exaction 
is an interference with inter-State commerce, and is accordingly 
unconstitutional and void. 

Lile, in his notes on Corporations, page 152, says, "It should 
be carefully observed that while a State may tax or otherwise 
lay a burden upon a foreign corporation, yet if the latter be en- 
gaged in inter-state commerce, any interference with its opera- 
tions will be unconstitutional and void. Hence, not only has 
the State no power in such case to prohibit a foreign corpora- 
tion from doing business within its borders, but it can lay a tax 
upon its business, as a condition precedent to doing business 
there, since this would be, in effect, a regulation of inter-state 
commerce. Therefore, a state law requiring a license tax to be 



Veto of House Bill No. 217. 



283 



paid by a telegraph, express, or railway company, or any other 
compan}^ or individual, engaged in inter-state commerce, as a 
condition precedent to the right to do business within its 
borders, is void." 

This is a plain discussion of the bill before me. It covers, in 
unquestionable terms, the principle ©bjection which I have to 
the Bill, viz: that it is clearly and positively unconstitutional, 
and is therefore void. 

The decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, above 
cited, is on all fours with the Bill before me. A license was im- 
posed upon all agents of express companies not only doing busi- 
ness wholly within the State, but upon those who passed across 
or through the State of Kentucky in going to and from other 
States for inter-state commerce purposes. Had the State of 
Kentucky and the State of West Virginia confined their license 
tax to express agents operating wholly within each State, no 
constitutional question could have been raised; but inasmuch 
as the Kentucky law, and the bill now before me, tax all express 
agents who traverse the State in the line of their duties, it is 
therefore a clear invasion of the inter-state commerce law, and is 
in conflict with the constitution of the United States. It has been 
repeatedly decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, 
that no State, under the guise of a license tax, can exclude from 
its jurisdition a foreign corporation engaged in inter-state com- 
merce, or impose any burdens upon such commerce within its 
limits. That court has often held that a State law is unconsti- 
tutional and void which requires a party to take out a license 
for carrying on inter-state commerce, no matter how specious 
the pretext may be for imposing it. 

Again, the per centum exacted on packages and gross receipts 
are not by the Bill confined to the business in respect of pack- 
ages received by such company and deliverable to points with- 
in the State, wich is also a like violation of the Inter-State Com- 
merce law. See the case of The Pacific Express Company versus 
Siebert, Auditor; United States Supreme Court Keports, 142, 
page 339. So also the case of in re Bell, 25 United States Ap- 
pelate Court, page 379. 

Moreover, it exacts license fees from foreign Express Compa- 
nies and their agents as a condition precedent to their transac- 
tion of business in this State, as well as fees for filing statements, 
and requires no such license fees or other such fees and exactions 



284 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



to be paid by domestic Express Corporations engaged in a sim- 
ilar business in the State, which is a discrimination not allowed 
by our Constitution. 

I have examined this Bill with great carefulness, because I am 
fully convinced that express companies have not hitherto paid 
their reasonable share of taxation in the State of West Virginia. 
I have all along, and do now favor requiring them to bear a 
just proportion of the tax burdens of the State. I would have 
heartily approved a just and proper law taxing them. I would 
cheerfully have approved this Bill, but for its unconstitutional 
and discriminating character. All foreign corporations should 
be placed upon an equal footing by the law, and all of them 
should be fairly and justly taxed. While I cannot conscien- 
tiously approve this Bill, for the reasons above given, I promise 
the people of West Virginia that during the remaining two 
years of my term as Governor, I will use every honest endeavor 
to require express companies and all other foreign corporations 
to pay legitimate and proper taxes to our State government. 
House Bill No. 217 is accordingly vetoed. 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor. 

Charleston, W. Va., Feb. 25, 1899. 



VETO 

By Governor G. W. Atkinson of House Bill Xo. 172— A Bill to 
Amend and Re-enact Sections 7 and 8 of Chapter 7o, of 
the Code of West Virginia. 



The intention and purpose of the author of this Bill are abso- 
lutely right. When one man works for another, he should be 
compensated for his toil, for two reasons specially: First, be- 
cause he earns his wages; and, second, he is presumed, under the 
law of political economy, to have added to the wealth of his em- 
ployer as much or more as the amount agreed to be paid to him 
for his toil. No man will employ another unless he expects to 
receive more in return than he contracts to pay to the one he 
employs for his labor. If I engage a man to work for me, and 



Veto of House Bill No. 172. 



285 



agree to pay him $50.00 per month, the presumption is, under 
the laws of political economy, that he adds to my accumula- 
tions, or wealth, as much or more than I agree to pay him; 
otherwise, my purpose in employing him is to defraud one or 
more of my fellow citizens. The laws of common sense and 
common reason, and, indeed, the law of God, declare that "the 
laborer is worthy of his hire." No man should give to another 
his time and his energies, without being properly compensated 
for the same. Evidently the intention of the author of this Bill 
is to require eveiy employer of labor to pay the wages of the man 
or men he employs to aid him in carrying on his business. This 
is right — forever right. No honest, well-meaning man can ques- 
tion this proposition; and no honest citizen can, or will attempt 
to controvert the same. But this Bill, as I understand it, does 
not wholly rest upon this principle. If it stopped here, no one 
could induce me to not approve it heartily. I believe in the 
principle and the duty of protecting the rights and the interests 
of the working people. Labor produces wealth, and wealth can 
be produced in no other way. A ton of iron-ore in the mountain 
side is worth but little, perhaps not over ten cents in real value; 
but when labor takes hold of it, digs it and smelts it, value is 
thereby added to it. The ore is worth ten cents per ton as it 
lies in its original state. A ton of this ore is dug and smelted, 
and a bar of iron is produced, worth say $5.00, which when 
worked into horse-shoes, will sell for $20.00. The hand of the 
skilled laborer is again applied to this same bar of iron, and it 
is made into knife-blades, and the product is found to be worth 
$1,000.00. Other skilled laborers take hold of this same bar of 
iron, and they work it into cambric needles, and it is worth $10,- 
000.00. Still others apply their skill and toil, and they trans- 
form it into hair-springs for watches and it is worth $20,000.00 
All this increase of value is the result of labor. So, no one will 
presume to say that labor, and labor only, does not produce 
wealth. Who, then, will undertake to assume that labor shall 
not be properly paid? 

There are two kinds of employers of labor in the world: One 
is honest— the other is dishonest. This bill is an effort to make 
all men honest. That is to say, the purpose of the bill is to re- 
quire every employer of labor, by a State law, to pay the sala- 
ries of the men he employs. This, in principle, is right; and all 
honest, well-meaning people will not attempt to controvert it. 



286 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Of. W. Atkinson. 



But another principle is involved, which evidently was not fore- 
seen by the author of the bill before me, viz: the rights of inno- 
cent purchasers of the products of the laborers, who, under this 
bill, are given a prior lien upon the real and personal property 
of their employers for the articles they produce. Proposition 
the first: No man should work for another without being paid 
for his labor. Proposition the second: The man who does the 
work for his employer, should have a first lien upon the real and 
personal property of his employer. These propositions are ab- 
solutely just. But what about the interests of innocent third 
parties, who may become involved? 1 can readily see how this 
bill will require all employers to pay their laborers every dollar 
that they owe them, (and this is right), but there is another 
paramount question upon which I am compelled to pass, viz: 
innocent purchasers of the products of labor. 

To illustrate: I am a coal merchant in Cincinnati. I order 
ten barges of coal from a coal operator in Kanawha Valley. I 
am asked to advance $1,000.00 on said purchase, or, indeed, I 
may have paid for the entire cargo of coal. I make the advance 
or advances. The coal is mine by purchase. Under this bill, it 
turns out that the men who dug the coal, which I purchased in 
part or entirely, have not been paid for digging or mining it. 
When I attempt to ship my coal, the miners who dug the coal, 
having filed their "mechanics lien" under this law, attach the 
ten barges of coal, and I am prevented from shipping it to my 
place of business. I am an innocent party, and necessarily a 
sufferer and a loser thereby. This is contrary to a general prin- 
ciple of law, which is as old as the law itself, that innocent pur- 
chasers must always be protected. 

To illustrate further: I am a lumber dealer. A man comes to 
me with a raft of lumber. It suits me. I purchase it, and pay 
for it. It turns out that the men who cut and rafted the lum- 
ber were not paid by their employers. Under this bill, they can 
file their mechanics liens in the county or counties where the 
work was done, and if the timber has been transported into an- 
other county, they can follow the timber; and although I am an 
innocent purchaser of the lumber, and have fully paid for the 
same, my lumber is made subject to the mechanics lien, and can 
be taken from me nolens volens. 

But it maybe claimed by the friends of this bill, that purchas- 
ers of personal property should ascertain whether there is a 



Veto of House Bill No. 172. 



287 



mechanics lien upon the same before they pay for it. This is 
reasonable upon its face, and yet it is a difficult matter to de- 
termine. Take this illustration: Scores of men deal in lumber. 
They employ labor, and they are benefitted by the products of 
such labor. They, however, fail or refuse to pay their laborers. 
They ship lumber or some other article, which is the product of 
the toil of the men they employ. They sell it and pocket the 
money, and refuse to pay the men who produced it. What is 
the result? The men who did the work— who cut the timber, 
&c. — find that their employer is attempting to defraud them; 
they enter their mechanics liens, and follow the property, and 
necessarily require the innocent purchaser of the lumber or 
other articles to pay their bills, notwithstanding the fact that 
said innocent purchaser of the lumber or other article, has paid 
full value for the same. 

It seems to me that every honest citizen will agree that a law 
so unlimited in its character is manifestly wrong and unjust. 
It will not only, in many instances, require an upright business 
man, entirely without any intent to defraud any one, to pay 
twice for what he has honestly purchased in the conduct of his 
legitimate business; and it will necessarily hamper trade and 
disrupt business generally. 

I am a lumber dealer, we will say. John Smith comes to me 
with a raft of one thousand saw-logs. The lumber is exactly 
such as I need. I pay Mr. Smith his full price for the logs. He 
receives his money, and returns to his home. He has been fully 
paid, and is satisfied. A week, or a month later, the men who 
cut these saw-logs, come to me and inform me that they have 
an unpaid claim against this raft of logs. They have filed their 
mechanics lien for cutting them, in accordance with the require- 
ments of this bill. They have not been paid for their honest 
work. Under this law, they can take possession of this raft of 
saw-logs, notwithstanding the fact that I have fully paid Mr. 
Smith for them. This is not right, and no one will say that it will 
not seriously [interfere with the lumber business of the Sta/te. No 
honest man will, or can say, that this will not prove a serious 
menace to business in general. 

But the friends of the Bill may claim (1) that labor is worthy 
of its hire — which is unquestionably right — and (2) that every 
one engaged in purchasing any commodity should first find out, 
before he makes a purchase, whether the article he buys is free 



288 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



of the incumbrance fixed by this Bill. Can this, in all cases, or 
in a majority of cases, be done? Is it possible to do so? Under 
our general statute, relating to mechanics liens, one has sixty 
days to file his lien, from the time he completes his labor on the 
property upon which he may file a lien. A purchaser — entirely 
innocent of any intentional wrong-doing — may inspect the rec- 
ord in the county in which the work was done, with a view of 
ascertaining whether a mechanics lien had been filed against the 
property, which he desires to purchase. None appears. The 
sixty days, however, in which a lien may be filed have not yet 
fully expired. He makes the purchase. A few days later, a lien 
is entered of record. He knows nothing about it. He believes 
the property is clear of all incumbrances. He purchases it and 
pays full value for the same; and yet, under this bill, a mechan- 
ics lien may be subsequently filed, ahd the innocent purchaser 
can be held liable for the amount that has not been paid to the 
man or men who has or have not been paid for the labor upon 
the property involved in the transaction. 

It is the settled policy of the commercial world that personal 
property shall pass, in the business transactions of mankind, 
unhampered by concealed liens; and this is and has been the de- 
clared policy of our State, as shown by our legislation in its re- 
quirements as to recordation of liens and stipulations relative 
to the passing of the titles of personal property. Had this bill 
provided that the article or articles produced by labor, been 
subject only to the liens of mechanics, so long: as it or they re- 
main in the possession of the party or parties who employed 
the labor, it would, in my judgment, have been a proper law, 
and therefore could not seriously restrict trade among business 
people. 

In view of all the facts, notwithstanding my belief that the 
intention of the author of the bill is a just and proper one, yet 
I cannot consent to its becoming a law, because it will necessa- 
rily involve innocent, well-meaning business people, and will, as 
a result, necessarily hamper legitimate business in the State, 
and I accordingly veto it, because it contains no provision for 
the protection of innocent purchasers. 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor. 

Charleston, W. Va., 
February 25th, 1899. 



Status of Members of the National Guard. 



289 



NATIONAL GUARD. 

Status of Members of National Guard, Who were Volunteers In 
the Spanish War. — Correspondence Between Governor 
Atkinson and General Spilman. 



Parkersburg, West Virginia, 
March 27, 1899. 

To His Excellency the Governor, 

Charleston, W. Va. 

Sir:— 

Having performed the duties to the United States as requested 
by your Excellency in April of last year, I have the honor to in- 
form you of my return to the State and my readiness to assume 
the duties required of me by law. Col. C. L. Smith, Command- 
ing First Infantry National Guards, and Col. W. H. Banks, 
Commanding Second Infantry National Guards, who have been 
absent on the same mission and by the same request, have re- 
ported to me for duty. 

In addition to the compliments you have kindly paid to the 
First West Virginia Volunteers, I may I think with legitimate 
pride, announce to you that we not only marked and com- 
mended by all commandidg officers under whom we served, but 
in addition were selected by military commanders after com- 
petive inspections, for important duties; but unfortunately we 
were set aside for those having a stronger political influence, 
which no doubt, you in common with the whole country recog- 
nize as a pernicious and baneful principle on which to regulate 
military affairs. 

Very respectfully, 

B. D. Spilman, 
B rigadier- General, 
Commanding West Virginia, 
National Guards. 



290 Public Addresses. &c., of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



March 31, 1899. 

General B. D. Spilmax. 

Parkersburg, W. Va. 

Sir:- 

I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of a communication 
dated at Parkersburg, March 27th, 1899, bearing your signa- 
ture with title "Brigadier General Commanding West Virginia 
National Guard,'' in which you report that you have performed 
the duties to the United States requested by me, have returned 
to the State, and are prepared to assume the duties required of 
you by law; and, also, "Col. C. L. Smith, Commanding 1st In- 
fantry National Guard," and "Col. W. H. Banks Commanding 
2nd Infantry National Guard," with service to the United 
States and State coincident with your own, "have reported to 
you for duty." 

In reply I have to inform you that the right to exercise com- 
mand in the West Virginia National Guard, conferred by virtue 
of your commission in the State Guard, was terminated upon 
your acceptance of a commission in the United States Volunteer 
service; and the same applies likewise to Colonels Smith and 
Banks. The acceptance of these commissions in the United 
States service necessitating a protracted and indefinite absence 
from the State, and a complete removal from its service and 
authority, was wholly incompatible with any service to the 
State that might have been required of you at any definite period 
of time, either near or remote, and was therefore tantamount 
to an entire severance of your official relations with the State 
Service. But, in as much as you did not formally resign your 
commission, and as I desired to preserve, so far as practicable, 
your former identity with the State Guard, the officers of the 
National Guard who volunteered in the United States Service 
were transferred from the active to the supernumerary list of 
West Virginia National Guard, are thereby subject to duty 
only upon the order of the Commander-in-Chief. 

It was evidently the manifest intention of the Legislature of 
West Virginia in enacting the present Military Code, that the 
Governor should, at all times, keep and maintain, within the 
limits of the State, not fewer than two regiments of a National 
Guard. This law, according to my construction of it— and in 
this opinion I am corroborated by the Law Officer of the Guard 
and the Attorney General of the State— is mandatory and not 



Status of Members of the National Guard. 



291 



merely directory, and it was my sworn duty to obey it. Con- 
sequently the necessity for the reorganization of the Guard, 
during the ten months' absence of yourself and Colonels Smith 
and Banks, could not have been averted under our present Mil- 
itary Code. It is true that section 6 of our present law allows 
the Commander-in-Chief, at his discretion, to grant six months 
leave of absence to the Guard upon a requisition of the Presi- 
dent of the United States. This limitation is inoperative to 
abridge the power of Congress, under the National Constitu- 
tion, to call out the militia of the several States; but in the 
present instance, as Congress has not exercised that power, and 
only called for a volunteer service, the question upon which I 
was called to act was to what extent the National Guard, under 
such condition, was available. It is therefore evident that the 
foregoiug limitation becomes important as indicating the Leg- 
islative intent in the law, which I am bound to observe in the 
absence of paramount authority from the Congress of the 
United States. 

The action of the Commander-in-chief by which yourself and 
Colonels Smith and Banks were rendered supernumerary wa s 
given due publication from the Adjutant General's Office by 
General Order No. 5 dated May 24th, 1898, copy enclosed. 

You are respectfully informed further that the office of Brig- 
ade Commander, after you vacated it, was filled by the detail 
of an officer from the General Staff, and due publication thereof 
made as per said General Order No. 5, 1898. Under date of 
June 18th, 1898, the officer detailed was commissioned Brigade 
Commander in accordance with section 20, Military Code, and 
the said appointment was duly confirmed by the State Senate 
at the recent session of the Legislature. 

The offices vacated by Colonels Smith and Banks were also 
filled by the promotion of officers of the Guard remaining in 
the service of the State, after examinations, held and conducted 
according to law, and due publication thereof was made from 
Brigade Headquarters by General Order No. 30 dated at 
Charleston, September 15th, 1898. 

The foregoing is respectfully jjresented that you may be cor- 
rected in your misapprehension of the facts that have obtained 
and do now obtain in the personnel of the Guard, from which 
erroneous ground you assume for yourself and for Colonels 
Smith and Banks title and rank to active command which were 



292 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



voluntarily relinquished by yourselves; and the further fact 
that there are no present "duties required of you by law", and 
you are only subject to such duty as the Commander-in-Chief 
may in the future assign to you from your present status as 
supernumerary officers of the Guard. 

I am constrained to direct attention, also, to your error that 
the duties performed by you and Colonels Smith and Banks in 
the service of the United States were at my request. To do this 
I am confident I need scarcely more than remind you of your 
own commendable zeal to obtain command of the First West 
Virginia Volunteer Infantry in the war against Spain, and, like- 
wise, the laudable desire of Colonels Smith and Banks to have 
commissions in said regiment. You are as thoroughly conver- 
sant with all the facts in this respect as I am, and I need not 
elaborate the point beyond recalling to your recollection the 
main and general ground upon which the selection of officers 
was based, viz: the President's call for troops having provided 
for a Volunteer army, formal requisition upon the organized 
military forces of the country not having been made, (though 
the President indicated his wish that members and organiza- 
tions of the State Guard be given preference over other volun- 
teers), it was optional with me as the appointing power in West 
Virginia, to commission officers of my own selection; but, not- 
withstanding the most earnest application for service in the 
volunteer army from a multitude of citizens, supported by 
strong and varied influences, I confined the organization of the 
First West Virginia Volunteer Infantry to the members of the 
State Guard. Then, in accordance with the understanding en- 
tered into with yourself and associates, as the best and fairest 
solution of the animated contest that grew up between the offi- 
cers of the Guard for commissions, the number of applications 
having been considerable in excess of the places to be filled, I 
permitted you and your fellow-officers to effect an agreement 
among yourselves, and, without restraint or direction on my 
part, to select the particular officers to be commissioned. This 
you did, and in pursuance therewith, commissions were issued 
accordingly. 

In replying as above to your letter, I have reviewed for your 
information and direction my official acts, and interpretation 
of the law, in conjunction with the facts of the situation, w r hich 
are involved by the position taken in your letter, although you 



The Pardon of Challon Pahl. 



293 



were doubtless aware iu advance, of the main facts upon which 
the foregoing- is predicated, the same having been of general 
public information, the attitude of your letter imposing upon 
me the necessity of a categorical and official pronouncement of 
the points raised determining and fixing the status of yourself 
and Colonels Smith and Banks in the West Virginia National 
Guard. 

I have the honor to remain, 

Your most obedient servant, 

Gr. W. Atkinson, 
Commander-in-Chief. 



PARDON GRANTED. 

The Pardon of Challon Pahl by Governor Atkinson, and the 
Pieasons Assigned Therefor. 

In the case of Challon Pahl, convicted by the Criminal Court, 
of Wood Co., January term, 1899, for unlawful shooting, and 
sentenced to three months in the county jail, and fined f 100. 00 
and costs. 

The petition in this case, which is signed by a large number 
of the citizens of Wood County, states that July 4th last, a 
dance was held at Mineral Wells in said Wood county; that one 
Albert Wilson appeared on the scene loaded with a lot of beer 
and whisky— inside and out. Whereupon he — being loaded — 
struck John Schultz and the prisoner Pahl each a belt across 
the head with an empty beer bottle. Doubtless if he had struck 
each of them on the inside with a full bottle of hop essence, 
there would have been no serious trouble. But the lick was in- 
flicted with an empty bottle, and necessarily trouble followed. 
Had Wilson checked up after hitting Challon Pahl and John 
Schultz with the empty beer bottle, as aforesaid, this trouble 
perhaps never would have been heard of outside of Mineral 
Wells; but as all of the parties to the scrimage were "dry", ex- 
cept Wilson, he (Wilson) proceeded to baste Edgar Pahl (Chal- 
lon' s brother) a swipe across the forehead with another empty 
beer bottle. Edgar, like the other two, did not fancy having 
empty beer bottles sailing around his unprotected cranium, and 
in order to protect himself from the empty and the dry attack, 



294 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



wholly on the outside, he, too, felt it to be his duty to take a 
hand in the Fourth of July double handed celebration. The 
affair, at this juncture, must have been interesting, as it is 
more than apparent that the Celebration of the Nation's Natal 
Day had reached its ebb at Mineral Wells, aforesaid. No police 
officers were present. They rarely are when most needed. The 
dance, however went on. 

The petition goes on to state that Challon Pahl, and one 
Albert Cooper proceeded to follow Wilson (the beer-bottle hit- 
ter) down the hill-side, and while trying to find out from him 
why he slashed around so promiscuously with his "empty" beer 
bottles, another "scrap" naturally ensued, resulting in a stab 
in Pahl's back by a sharp knife in the hands of the aforesaid 
Wilson, whose former weapon was a beer bottle entirely empty. 
Whereupon, the petition distinctly states, that Pahl, in order 
to save his own life, whipped a pistol out of his hip pocket, and 
proceeded to fire upon Wilson, a la Mexico Bill, or cow-boy style 
generally. One of the shots took effect in the off side of Wilson's 
corpus, South by South-east, and he was laid up about a week 
from the necessary soreness created thereby. What became of 
Wilson's whisky and beer that he took to the "frolic" is not set 
out in the petition. The natural presumption is that it had 
been entirely consumed or had been otherwise disposed of, be- 
fore the boys went down the hill-side to square up the general 
deal, where Wilson got the shot in the back, instead of in the 
neck. On the whole, it may be that the stab in the back was 
more fortunate than another shot in the neck, by the whisky 
and beer. At all events, none of the boys were much hurt. 
This is gratifying to all law abiding people. A big, red cowhide, 
in the hands of a policeman, at the critical juncture on the hill- 
side, administered to the crowd of belligerant Fourth of July 
combatants, would [have been a blessing to the boys, as well 
as to the participants in the "frolic" generally at aforesaid 
Mineral Wells on the 4th of July, aforesaid. But the policeman 
was not there! 

The petition further states that Challon Pahl is a "young- 
ster" only 19 years of age, and has, prior to this fool escapade, 
been an upright, law-abiding young man, and that he is of agood 
family, all of whom are greatly humiliated over his mis-conduct; 
and that the signers thereof think the "young blood" has been 
punished enough for his waywardness in this particular case. 



Valued Policy Insurance. 



295 



I beg to differ from the opinion of the signers of the petition: 
1st, Pahl had no sort of business to carry a pistol in his hip- 
pocket; 2nd, He is wholly inexcusable for drinking whisky and 
beer to excess on the 4th of July, or any other day; and, 3rd, 
I cannot excuse him entirely for using his pistol, even though 
Wilson pulled a knife on him — notwithstanding the fact that 
most men would do most anything rather than be carved up 
with a jack-knife. 

However, after carefully weighing all the facts set out in the 
petition, my judgment is that "a splitting of the difference" in 
the case will be reasonably fair, and, in my opinion, will meet 
the ends of public justice; and without intending in the least to 
reflect upon the Court who tried the case, I direct that Pahl 
shall be required to serve out his ninety days sentence in the 
county jail, and that the fine of $100.00 shall be fully remitted. 

I hope that the lesson learned by all the young squirts who 
participated in this 4th of July melee, may last them all the re- 
mainder of their lives. Young men, it don't pay to carry pis- 
tols, nor does it pay to get drunk or act the fool at any time. 
Better at all times, be sober and decent and gentlemanly. It 
will more than pay you in the end. Try it! 



INSURANCE. 

Governor Atkinson's Views on Valued Policy Insurance. 



April 10, 1899. 



State of West Virginia, 
Executive Chamber, 
Charleston, April 10, 1899. 

My Dear Mr. Palmer:— 

I am under obligations to you for publishing, in extenso, my 
semi- veto of the "Valued Policy" insurance law recently enacted 
by the Legislature of West Virginia; and I am also obliged for 
your courteous invitation to present through "The Forum" 
any additional objections I may have to such a law, and to 



296 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



offer some remedy to existing objections to present plans of fire 
insurance. 

I confess that there are some grounds for objections, on the 
part of those who carry insurance, to the methods adopted 
by many fire insurance companies in adjusting losses. A fire 
occurs; the company or companies interested send one or more 
experienced adjusters to determine the loss; they understand 
their business thoroughly; they usually set about to secure all 
the salvage possible for their companies; some of them frequent- 
ly resort to improper methods to accomplish their purpose, 
such as threats that no payments will be made by the compa- 
nies, unless their figures are accepted by the assured, &c, &c. 
All these sort of methods are wrong, and they naturally create 
hostility to the companies. 

When an honest man insures his property at an honest value, 
he is entitled to an honest adjustment of the loss he has sus- 
tained when his property is burned; and, yet, many times he is 
1 'bamboozled" by ''smart" adjusters, and necessarily he is dis- 
satisfied, and puts in the remainder of his life abusing fire insur- 
ance companies. An honest man detests a law suit. He will, 
as a rule, suffer wrongs to be heaped upon him before he will 
"go to Court" with a case. As a result, many good, reliable 
men are badly treated by adjusters in arriving at the true ex- 
tent of a loss, 

This is wrong, and in this way the "Valued Policy" nuisance 
has gained great headway in all parts of the country. What is 
the remedy? First, all fire insurance companies should be more 
liberal and reasonable in adjusting losses. All "bull-dozer" ad- 
justers should be relegated to the rear, and only just, fair- 
minded men should be selected to settle losses. Second, the 
different States should enact laws regulating methods of ad- 
justing losses, and nothing more. If these things were faithfully 
carried out, we would hear no more of "Valued Policy" laws, 
which not only operate against the insurance companies, but 
against the people as well. 

Most truly yours, 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of West Virginia. 

Willis Palmer, Esq., 

Editor "Forum," 

Indianapolis, Indiana. 



Opinion of Religion. 



297 



OPINION OF RELIGION. 

Governor Atkinson's Religious Creed, Briefly Expressed. 



April 10, 1899. 



State of West Virginia, 

Executive Chamber, 
Charleston, April 10, 1899. 

Gilson Willetts, Esq., 

No. 603 West End A venue, 

New York. 

My Dear Sir:— 

In reply to your three questions, propounded to me, I beg to 
say, 

First. I most certainly believe that Christianity is the un- 
questionable friend of mankind. It has given humanity all over 
the world where it has been introduced, an uplift which is not 
comparable, in any sense, with any other systems of religion 
that have been tried in the past. It gives to mankind generally 
higher conceptions of life and duty, relative not only to this 
world, but for the world to come. It erects school houses, col- 
leges, churches, and eleemosynary institutions for the better- 
ment of the human race. No other system of religion can be 
compared with it in these respects. 

Second. I believe unqualifiedly in the Divinity of the Christ. 
I never had any doubt arising in my mind upon this question, 
and I have given to the subject careful thought and study. 

Third. I believe in the surpassing potency of the civilizing in- 
fluences which grow out of the teachings and principles of the 
Gospel of the Christ. To blot out Christianity would be to 
throw a veil of darkness over the world, and render mankind 
desolate and miserable. 

Very respectfully yours, 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of West Virginia. 



298 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



REMARKS 

of Governor 67. W. Atkinson, LL. D., at State Street M. E. 
Church, Charleston, W. Va., at the Installation of the 
Officers of the Epworth League. 



May 14, 1899, 



My Friends and Fellow-Citizens: 

The subject assigned to me for a ten minutes' talk on 
this occasion is, "The Worth of the Church to a Young- 
Man." This theme is so broad that it will be difficult for me to 
mention even some of the leading thoughts which I have in my 
mind relative thereto, in the limited space of ten or fifteen min- 
utes assigned to me. 

First of all, I remark, that the Church is worth everything to 
the young man. If you will believe me, my young friends, you 
simply will, nine cases out of ten, make shipwrecks of life if you 
attempt to get on without the helpful influence of the Church of 
the Christ. My own observation and my reading as well, con- 
firm the statement that the Christian Church is the line that se- 
curely fastens all young men to the shore, and without this 
mooring they are liable to veer off into improper methods of 
living, and, sooner or later, drift upon the rocks. I knew two 
young men who graduated from college the same day; both of 
them were good students; both of them were moral young men, 
and both of them had great promise of future success. Neither 
of them, at the time of graduation, was a member of the Church. 
They discussed the question carefully as to whether they should 
become religious or take the other side. One of them decided 
that he would become a member of the Church; the other de- 
cided that he would see more of the world, and thus secure a 
higher grade of enjoyment. Both of them studied law, and 
started in the line of their professional work with rich prospects 
ahead. The one who became a Christian, eschewed society, 
stuck to his office, attended to his duties, and steadily grew in 



Remarks to the State Street Epworth League. 299 



his profession. The other entered society, adopted fast meth- 
ods of living, paid but little attention to his business, and inside 
of ten years became absolutely worthless — a total mental and 
moral wreck. The other pressed steadily forward, attending 
Church worship regularly, was an active worker in the Sunday 
School, and is to-day one of the very best lawyers in the State 
of Ohio. You may think that the Church had nothing to do in 
this matter. I differ from you. Had the other young man al- 
lied himself with Church people and emploj^ed his leisure from 
his profession in moral and religious work, he doubtless would 
have beeu equally successful with the other. 

This illustrates satisfactorily, to my mind, that every t young 
man needs the Church to keep him at all times in the line of 
right living. A. man makes a mistake if he depends upon him- 
self to get on in the world and ignores the Church and its influ- 
ences. In almost every instance, he will fail. Of course, every 
one must have self-reliance, because no one can succeed who 
does not depend upon himself, upon his own energies and his 
own efforts. He must, however, have a stronger arm upon 
which to lean than that of his father, and a kindlier bosom than 
that of his mother on which to rest his weary head. There is 
nothing enduring in this world except God and His laws. There 
is nothing so helpful as the promises and privileges of the 
Church. Everything else is evanescent — passing away. Dark- 
ness is closing over the land of Solon and Lycurgus. The hills 
that echoed the eloquence of Pericles are almost unknown to 
men. The groves in which Plato and Socrates prepared their 
philosophxv have all been practically razed to the earth. The 
grand cities, temples and obelisks, which were intended to per- 
petuate the memories of their builders, have largely crumbled 
into dust. But the works of men like Abraham, and Moses, and 
Paul, and John, and the fathers of the Church, will live on for- 
ever. This latter class of men sought mainly to do good, and 
to elevate their fellow-men, and their deeds lived after they were 
gone. 

I remark again, my friends, that the Church needs the young 
men in its work and service. There is a work in the Church for 
every one to do, that no one else can do as well as he. I care 
not how humble he may be; I care not how uneducated he may 
be, he can render a service that others more accomplished can- 
not perforin so well as he. The life of Stephen Paxson is an il- 



300 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



lustration of the truthfulness of this statement. He was lame, 
was afflicted with an impediment in his voice, was a country vi- 
olinist, and a noted jig-dancer and wit, notwithstanding his 
lameness and his stuttering. He was a hatter by trade. His 
little girl, about seven or eight years of age, promised her Sun- 
day School Superintendent that, along with the other scholars, 
she would bring a student to the Sunday School the next Sab- 
bath. Naturally, she went after her father. He tried to beg off, 
but she persisted. He went with her. From the first he was in- 
terested. He became an earnest student. He could neither read 
nor write. He adopted S3 r stematic methods of stud}''; very soon 
learned to read and write; studied the Bible carefully; was a 
good singer, and within a year, became a very useful member of 
the Sunday School. He felt it to be his duty to engage in the 
work of organizing Sunday Schools under the Sunday School 
Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He went AVest, and 
inside of twenty years he had organized over two thousand Sun- 
day Schools, and received into membership in these schools in 
the neighborhood of one hundred thousand children. He was 
the most noted Sunday School man of his day. He became one 
of the most magnetic, powerful platform speaker's that the 
world has ever known. He left a name behind him that will live 
forever. As much as I love and revere the memory of General 
TJ. S. Grant, I declare to-night that I would rather be Stephen 
Paxson than General Grant. 

I wish to add also, my friends, that the Church helps you not 
only mentally and morally and religiously, but it helps you 
physically as well. The Church member looks after his health. 
He does not waste his strength and muscles by keeping late 
hours and breaking down his energies. He feels it to be his re- 
ligious duty to look after his body as well as his mind and his 
soul. He recognizes the life of Christ as a globe of precepts; 
that all true work is embodied in religion; and that religion is 
two-sided, embracing good works as well as worship and devo- 
tion. The big human end of religion, after all, is to do unto 
others as you would have them do unto you. 

Again I remark that the Church gives one standing among 
his fellows. Business men, w T hen they desire a clerk, will not ad- 
vertise for a young man who is a drinker, or a society man or 
a card pla} r er, but, on the contrary, they want sober, decent, 
reliable, religious men to intrust with their business affairs. 



The Trust Problem. 



301 



The Church going man does not waste his time or his energies. 
I read a placard once on the walls of a law office in Columbus, 
Ohio, "Lost, somewhere between nine A. M. and 6 P. M., to-day, 
one golden hour. No reward is offered, because it is lost for- 
ever." Every day is a little life, and a life within itself. Abra- 
ham and Jacob and Moses counted their lives by days and not 
by years. Therefore, he who loses a day is dangerously prodi- 
gal. 

The Church teaches young men to think good thoughts, to 
read good books, to study the Bible, to help their fellow men. 
It teaches them also that good society is the society of the 
good, and that any other society called good is an absolute 
misnomer. It teaches men to be charitable, to be useful, to be 
kind, to be helpful, and to make the world broader and brighter 
and nobler and grander because of their having lived in it. 



TRUSTS. 

Governor Atkinson and the Trust Problem. 



May 15, 1899. 



State of West Virginia, 

Executive Chamrer, 
Charleston, May 15, 1899. 

Editor "Farm Machinery," 
St. Louis, Mo. 

Dear Sir:— 

My whole life has been an opposition to "Trusts". Being one 
of the "common people", I have stood out against the growing 
encroachments of wealth. I have invariably stood with "the 
masses" against "the classes". The times in which we live seem 
to inspire the rich to combine for the purpose of enabling them 
to dictate terms to the poor and the powerless. The rich man 
commands and the poor man obeys, or "steps down and out". 



302 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



If the employee presumes to assert himself, as he believes in his 
own interests, another forthwith takes his place, and he is forced 
to look out for another job, or starve or steal or beg. To my 
mind, this has always seemed radically wrong. And yet, there 
is another side to this subject. Wealth has always ruled, and I 
suppose always will. It is often unjust, overbearing, exacting, 
unfair; but not always so. Capital is many times unduly cen- 
sured. Corporations are almost always unjustly proscribed. I 
never could understand why the common people should persist 
in denouncing ordinary corporations. No country can prosper 
without them. They are absolutely esseutial for the public 
good. I have invariably stood by them, and always shall. A 
corporation is entitled to the same consideration as an indi- 
vidual, and yet they are usually denounced by the masses, and 
in most cases unjustly. No country can be developed, nor can 
it prosper without corporations. But Trusts are another 
thing. They are a union of corporations which are engaged in 
the same line of business. I have hitherto conscientiously op- 
posed them, and yet the times seemingly demand their existence. 
Why this is so, I cannot understand. They claim that they in- 
variably do three things: 1st. Pay the highest possible wages. 
2nd. Furnish the best quality of stock. 3rd. Charge the lowest 
rate to consumers. If we are honest, we must admit that there 
is some truth in all of these claims. But, somehow, I cannot get 
it out of my mind that they are dangerous in the end to the 
public weal, and therefore ought not to be encouraged. I may 
be prejudiced in this conclusion; but I do not feel that I am. 

I have written hastily in reply to your request, and will have 
more to say later on. 

Very truly yours, 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of West Virginia. 



Decoration Bay. 



303 



DECORATION DAY: 

Governor Atkinson on " Decoration Day" 
May 15, 1899. 



State of West Virginia, 

Executive Chamber, 
Charleston, May 15, 1899. 

E. E. Meredith, Esq., 
Editor "Advocate", 
Mannington, W. Va. 
My Dear Sir:— 

Replying to your courteous favor of the 13 th iust., I wish to 
give my unqualified endorsement to the custom of continuing 
Decoration Day exercises over the graves of our deceased sol- 
diers of the War for the Union. It has been my pleasure and 
my profit to scarcely miss a year in the last twenty-five 
years, of being present, at some point in or outside of our 
State, when fresh flowers were strewn upon the graves of the 
heroes who saved the flag and Constitution for the generations 
that are to come after them. 

It seems to me that this year's exercises are going to be more 
profitable, more attractive, and more largely attended than 
any of the years of the past. The war with Spain has united 
our countrymen in the North and in the South. Somehow, 
there existed a very distant and cold fraternal spirit. I suppose 
it could not be otherwise, as it necessarily grew out of the war. 
But, this year I observe that in a great many places, joint ser- 
vices are to be held— both the Blue and the Grey participating. 
This I heartily approve. When the Spaniards attacked our 
flag, the men who wore the Grey responded to the call of the 
President as quickly as the men who wore the Blue, and, being 
the same kind of people, they have proved themselves to be 
equally as true soldiers. Hereafter I trust that our people, 
North and South, will never consider again where the North 
ends and the South begins. 



304 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



I clipped out of a newspaper the other day, the following five 
stanzas which I desire you to print: 

"Upon my bosom softly lies 

A knot of blue and gray, 
You ask me why? — Tears fill my eyes 

As low to you I say. 

I had two brothers once, 

Warm hearted, bold and gay; 
They left my side— one wore the blue 

The other wore the grey. 

One rode with Stonewall and his men, 

And joined his fate with Lee; 
The other followed Sherman's march 

Triumphant to the sea. 

Both fought for what they deemed the right, 

And died with sword in hand; 
One sleeps beneath Virginia's hills 

And one in Georgia's sand. 

The same snn shines upon their graves 

My love for both must stay; 
And so upon my bosom lies 

This knot of blue and grey," 

Trusting* that all over West Virginia, Decoration Day this 
year will be observed to a greater extent than at any time in 
the past, I am, with great respect, 

Very truly yours, 

G. W. Atkinson. 



REMARKS 



of Governor G. W. Atkinson, on Receiving a Portion of a Shell 



Fired From the Armed Cruiser "New York" in 
the Battle at San Juan, Puerto Rico. 



May 19, 1899. 



Mr. Gaines and Friends:— 

I take great pleasure, as the representative of the people of 
West Virginia, in accepting this part of a missile fired by our 



Accepting Fragment of a Naval Shell. 



305 



sailors from one of the guns of the Battle-ship New York, at San 
Juan, Puerto Rico, into the ranks of the Spanish forces there 
entrenched, in our recent war with that one-horse Nation. The 
Spaniards in this conflict represented one of the oldest and 
meanest Nations the world has yet known. Age alone entitled 
it to respectful consideration. Nothing else did. These Span- 
iards thought that they could bully the United States. They 
tried upon us their game of bluff. They set themselves up 
against us, and were wiped out almost totally. They made a 
mistake. They soon found it out. The biggest fool job of the 
century, in international affairs, was the blowing up of our 
battle ship "Maine." While the world stands, the people of the 
United States will remember "the Maine;" and I think the Span- 
iards will remember it also. They will have all the balance of 
their lives to get onto the fact that there is a God in Israel, and 
that no Government can father a plot to deliberately blow up 
a ship of a God-fearing nation, without provocation, killing 
two hundred and sixty-six innocent, unsuspecting seamen, with- 
out sometime beiug called for such act before the bar of civiliz- 
ation and a just God as well. They blew up our ship "Maine," 
and we blew them up. They have answered to us, and they 
lost. They will have to answer to God for that crime, and I 
will not undertake to foretell the result. I leave that to God 
and them, and may our just God have mercy upon them! 

I accept this fragment of a shell that did much to settle the 
result of our war with Spain. I will deposit it in Mrs. Mary 
Eagan's collections of our State Historical Society, if it be so 
directed by the Father and Maker of the Society — Dr. John P. 
Hale — who is here present and is still its President. I turn the 
same over to him, to be disposed of as he may direct. The peo- 
ple of West Virginia, I am sure, will appreciate this valuable 
relic, and in their name I thank you, and through you, Mr. W. 
D. Catlett, the generous donor, for the same. 

Note.— The shell was sent by W. D. Catlett, of West Virginia, now in Puerto Rico, 
and was formally presented to the Governor, by Hon. J. H. Gaines, in an elaborate 
address. Dr. Hale, the President of the State Historical Society, received the same 
from the Governor, and placed it in the Museum of the Society for the use of the peo- 
ple. 



306 J Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. GL W. Atkinson. 



OUR NEW OPPORTUNITIES IN AGRICUL- 
TURE. 

By Governor G. W. Atkinson, D. G. L. 



Editor Farm Machinery, 

St. Louis, Mo. 

Dear Sir: 

It gives me great pleasure to comply with your recent request 
for a short article on the above subject, but I must confess that 
my time has been so fully occupied with my official duties that 
1 have been unable to give this complex question the careful 
study and thought which its importance deserves. Agriculture 
now admittedly the foundation upon which we must build our 
National prosperity, and to which we must look for our Na- 
tional greatness and wealth for all coming time, is, I am satis- 
fied, on the eve of a great forward movement. 

The general awakening among those engaged in this God- 
given profession — for it is a profession — the development of the 
great scientific facts underlie and constitute the basic prin- 
ciples of successful agriculture everywhere, have slowly but 
surely found their way into the minds of many husbandmen in 
every part of our great country; and this, with the earnest, con- 
stant demand for more general and higher education on all 
agricultural and kindred subjects, is sure to bear much fruit. 
The agencies which are at work to preserve intact this great in- 
dustry of our country, and to fit and prepare our people for the 
new opportunities and possibilities which are ever opening to 
them, have duties to perform, the importance of which cannot 
well be overestimated. These agencies must continue to resist 
in the future, as they have resisted in the past, the strong and 
seemingly natural tendency to ignore agriculture, and to dis- 
pute the claim that it is the rock upon which all other industries 
must stand, if we would reach our highest and best develop- 
ment as a great Nation. 

We cannot afford, as a Government, to ignore agriculture or 
to give to it its rightful place to commerce, to manufacturing, 



Our New Opportunities in Agriculture. 307 



to mining, or to any other of the great industries of our land; 
but must in a sense make them all subordinate to it, and for all 
to work in harmony for the common good, and each contribute 
to the success and fuller development of the other. 

Every attempt which is made to rob agriculture of its right- 
ful, first place among all our leading industries, is in direct op- 
position to the common good, and can only serve to hinder our 
progress and development as a Nation. That our National and 
State Governments are conceding more and more to the just 
demands of our agricultural people, is a source of gratification 
to every one who is familiar with the history of the past and 
arouse the people generally to the importance of the conditions 
with which we are surrounded to-day. If our Nation is to go 
forward to still greater and nobler achievements— and it cer- 
tainly is — and at the same time encourage and protect those 
engaged in the husbandly of our country, and see to it that no 
other business or interest is allowed to usurp, ignore or infringe 
upon their rights by the enactment of unjust and discrimina- 
ting laws, the conditions I have mentioned must be taken into 
consideration. The farmers of this country are its bone and 
sinew, and as a class, they desire nothing but an even chance in 
the race of life; and with this, they will ever be able to hold their 
rightful place, and fulfill their mission in life, and prove, beyond 
all cavil, that theirs is an honest and honorable profession, and 
that they are able and willing to contribute their full share to- 
wards making this a still greater, grander and nobler Nation 
than it at present is. 

The question as to the effect upon our agriculture of the 
extension of our territory, is one with which we should deal with 
great care, and only after well-matured deliberation. That new 
opportunities will thus be opened to us is certain, but that the 
effect upon our agriculture will be beneficial is fraught with 
much doubt. Upon this point many of our great minds differ 
widely. That it will benefit on the one hand and injure on the 
other is doubtless true. That it will make any great difference 
either way, except in special cases, is an open question. Whether 
we are in sympathy with the policy which brings these new op- 
portunities, or whether we are not, it is our plain duty and our 
privilege as free American citizens, to grasp the opportunities 
thus opened to us and make the best use of them that w T e pos- 
sibly can. 



308 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. (1. W. Atkinson. 



We are willing to trust to the proper authorities a wise ad- 
justment of these very important questions; but, at the same 
time, we must admonish them to give heed and careful consid- 
eration to the opinions on this subject, as expressed by the Agri- 
cultural authorities, which make a very careful study of all 
problems and their probable effect upon the agriculture of our 
common country. 

As I said in the beginning, much is being done in acknowledg- 
ment of the claims and importance of agriculture, both by the 
Nation and by the different States of the Republic. 

Among the different departments and organizations involved 
in the issues before us, I desire to name a few of those whose 
opinions and counsels should be sought in the settlement of 
these and all other matters of interest and importance to the 
great and growing interests of our growing country, to-wit: The 
Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, and the State 
Departments of Agriculture in all of our States; and the National 
Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, with the State Granges 
in all of the States maintaining them. These, and many other 
such organizations, can and will render very valuable ser- 
vice in the adjustment and settlement of all of these important 
questions, if called upon so to do. They, of necessity, must 
study carefully and intelligently all of these intricate and per- 
plexing national and international questions, and all economic 
questions which are constantly coming up before the masses of 
our people for solution, and I am persuaded that they are do- 
ing this very thing, which will make their support all the more 
formidable. 

Let the tillers of the soil resolve to meet these new opportu- 
nities, and at the same time faithfully perform all of the old, as 
well as the new obligations of citizenship which are, or may 
come upon them, sought or unsought, and thus contribute their 
part to the grand and glorious achievements of the greatest and 
best Government beneath the stars. 

Your most obedient servant, 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of West Virginia. 



On the Death of Judge Wm. Lawrence, LL. D. 309 



WILLIAM LAWRENCE, LL. D. 

Remarks of Governor G. W. Atkinson, LL. D., of West Vir- 
ginia, at a Public Meeting, held in the Chapel of the 
Ohio Wesley an University, Delaware, Ohio, 
in Memory of the Late Judge William 
Lawrence, LL. D., a Trustee of 
the University. 



June 18, 1809. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gextllemen:— 

There is but little left for me to say relative to the life and ca- 
reer of our distinguished friend and brother, the late Judge 
William Lawrence, of Bellfontaine. 

He lived a long and useful life, and left his impress upon the 
times iu which he lived. He possessed the rare combination of 
being* useful alike in both Church and State. 

It has been my good fortune to know him personally for 
many years, but in politics and the law I knew him best. In 
politics he was learned and useful both to his party and his peo- 
ple. His strong common sense coupled with his unswerving in- 
tegrity- and a thorough knowledge of affairs, enabled him to 
exert a powerful, and always wholesome influence among his 
associates in the political affairs of the State. He was master- 
ful as an ally, and dangerous as an antagonist. He hit hard 
licks in debate, and his sledge hammer blows rarely fell short. 

He was thoroughly trained in statecraft as well as in 
the law. His effective work upon the hustings and his services 
for mauy years in the State Legislature and in Congress, gave 
him a wide knowledge of men and measures. These varied ex- 
periences made him useful, and there was consequently a con- 
tinuous demand, by the political party to which he belonged, 
for his services in every political campaign for almost a half 
century in this, one of the foremost States of the American Re- 
public. 

He was also a voluminous writer on economic and semi- 
political questions. I doubt if any other man in the great State 



310 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson . 



of Ohio has written more on political economy than our deceas- 
ed friend— Judge Lawrence. And better than all, his writings 
could be understood. He never spoke in platitudes, but always 
with clearness of vision and always to the point. 

But, Mr. President, as a lawyer and jurist his fame must 
mainly rest. The text books which he has written, and the 
several volumes of opinions rendered by him while he served a.s 
First Comptroller of the Treasury of the United States, brought 
him to the favorable notice of the profession throughout the 
land, and brought him also enduring fame. These learned de- 
cisions have never been equaled or excelled by any other lawyer 
who hitherto or since has been called to fill that exalted and 
exacting position. 

Judge Lawrence possessed a discriminating mind, and this 
along with his strong common-sense, thoroughgoing integrity, 
and his untiring energy, rendered his decisions, as a jurist, of 
great value to the profession wherever they have been studied 
and read. 

Judge Lawrence was not only a great man, but he was also 
an honest man. He was, in all his acts, as perpendicular as 
the Washington monument. He never veered from right living, 
and was always just towards his fellow men. The Scotch peas- 
ant poet expressed a volume in a single stanza, when he said: 

"From scenes like these old Scotia's graudure springs 
Which make her loved at home, revered abroad; 
Princes and lords are but the breath of kings, 
An honest man is the noblest work of God." 

I remark also, my fellow citizens, that our deceased friend 
was a religious man. His influence was ever on the moral side 
of any and all questions. He always stood by his pastor. He 
stood by his Church. He stood by this University. He stood 
by the Savior and the Cross. He stood by the "old ship Zion" 
as she bears upon her prowess, the noble and glorious message 
of "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace and good will 
to men." 

Judge Lawrence will be missed at Bellfontaine. We will miss 
him here at Delaware in our Board of Trustee meetings of this 
great University which he loved so well. The people of Ohio at 
large will miss him. But our loss will be his gain for ever. May 
his ashes rest in peace. 



Address to the Order of^Elks. 



311 



ADDRESS 

Of Governor G. W. Atkinson, D. C. L„ at the Opening of the 
Oriental Carvinal of the Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Elks, at the City of Wheeling, W. Va. 



June 26th, 1899. 



(From the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, June 27, 1899.) 

My Fellow Citizens of Wheeling, Ladies and Gentlemen:— 
One cannot but be impressed by this august presence and this 
splendid display. I count it, indeed, a high privilege, upon an 
occasion so fraught with interest, to be permitted to speak, for 
a short time, to this massive throng of my fellow countrymen. 
I am here to-day at the request of the Benevolent and Protec- 
tive Order of Elks, an institution known all over the civilized 
world, to whose enterprise our people are indebted for this 
splendid demonstration. 

Secret societies, my friends, were old and well established when 
the soldiers of Julius Caesar landed on the shores of Britain; 
old when Alexander carried the civilization of Asia into Europe; 
old when the Pyramids were constructed on the banks of 
the Nile; old when Ninevah and Babylon were piled upon 
the banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates. The} 7 antedated 
Eome and Athens, Confucius, David, Saul and Solomon; and no 
one can deny that Secret Societies did not lay the foundation 
stones of the Pyramids themselves. In our own country, back 
to the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth and the Cavaliers 
at Jamestown, they trace their origin; and they have been gain- 
ing headway ever since. If I mistake not, they will continue to 
grow by the rolling of the years. The people— the common 
people — demand them, and they, therefore, cannot be suppressed. 

Standing to-day in the twilight of the nineteenth century, 
some of you may ask what need have we for Secret Societies 
like the "Elks," what have they done, and what title have they 
to public favor? I answer, in the ages when the blackness of 
paganism shrouded the world; when idols were set up for wor- 
ship in the temples; when the advocates of religious rites w T ere 



312 Public Addresses, &c, oe Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



subjected to cruel torture; when many were compelled to bow 
the knee to Baal; then it was that thoughtful men assembled in 
secret counsel and resolved to be free and to think for them- 
selves, and there they decided to worship the true and living 
God. All along the centuries Societies like the Elks have stood 
out bravely and heroically for religious toleration, and openly 
and publicly proclaimed the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God 
and the Brotherhood of man; and by such action they have 
made the world cleaner and sweeter and kinder and happier. 

My fellow citizens, mighty things have been worked out in 
this the youngest of the great Nations, as the Nineteenth cen- 
tury is grandly rolling out; and yet we are entering upon anew 
era to be begun by the Twentieth century of which the Nine- 
teenth was only the preparation. What we behold to-day is 
but the presage of that which is to follow. Progress is the law 
of the ages. A point which was yesterday invisible, is the goal of 
to-day, and will be the starting point of tomorrow. We look 
into the future and hail the coming of the morn, radiant and 
effulgent, when this beautiful world which we now inhabit will be 
ablaze /with the radiant splendor of new discoveries which would 
blind the eyes of those now living, were they in their fullness to 
break upon us now. It seems to me, my friends, that more 
potent to-day than at any other period of the world's history, 
are most manifest all instrumentalities for the bettering of the 
human race. May the lightening spare the walls of our glorious 
civilization, and may peace, like a ministering angel, illumine 
our firesides, and may the shadows of the centuries continue to 
be upon our splendid Ohio Valley— the richest of all the great 
valleys of the earth. (Applause.) 

Man should not live for himself alone. Where is the one who 
can look along the line of the receding ages, back into the long 
forgotten past, who will not say that man should not live out- 
side himself? Not one. The true, manly man will seek to aid 
others, and will strive to preserve that which is most perfect, 
most beautiful and ennobling in the earth. Thus the subtle and 
mischievous speculations of the ancient sophists have been sup- 
planted by the philosophy which recognizes, not only human 
morals, but the divinity of God, and the eternity of the soul. 
Like a beautiful stream, rippling over the rocks and crags and 
pebbles of its channel, flowing by every door, singing over the 
same sweet song of untiring love, gladdening all hearts; and 



Address to the Okder of Elks. 



313 



along the course of this true gospel of peace, benevolence and 
protection spring fresh and fragrant the flowers of beauty, in- 
nocence and truth to adorn the lives of all believers and lend a 
lasting perfume to the works of faith and labor and love. Such, 
niv friends, is the chief purpose of an Order like this one called 
"the Elks". 

It has been properly said, my hearers, that every Government 
on the earth is founded upon some form of religion. A system 
of morals based upon some religion, binding upon every indi- 
vidual, is necessary to constitute a State. While the society of 
Elks is not specifically religious, yet it opposes atheism, because 
atheism produces disobedience to law, dislo3 T alty to sovereignty, 
and engenders materialism, rationalism, socialism, nihilism, 
communism and other false doctrines wholly inimical to consti- 
tutional government, subversive of civil liberty and destructive 
of true manhood everywhere. This excellent Order of Elks, 
like all others of its class, clearly sees this great and growing 
evil, with all of its concurrent vices, as the monster with which 
the next generation of our people must grapple in a final death- 
ly struggle: and when it comes, as come it will, it will be a 
struggle between law and anarchy, liberty and despotism, order 
and plunder, happiness and misery. In this spirited contest, 
this great Society, if I mistake not, will be an ally of law, or- 
der, liberty, happiness; and so will all of these secret organiza- 
tions that I know anything about — and I am familiar with a 
number of them — be the last to furl their banners and retire 
from the field. 

All of these large, benevolent Orders teach men to enquire what 
they are, whence they came, and whither they are tending? No 
one can consent to the belief that death ends all. The soul re- 
bels intuitively against that dogma. No one can persuade him- 
self to the belief that his life is but a bubble cast upon the ocean 
of eternity to float for a moment on its waves and then sink 
out of sight forever. The rainbow and the clouds, the stars 
which hold their midnight festivals in the sky, the bright forms 
of human beauty, and the high and glorious aspirations that 
leap like angels from the temples of our hearts, all teach that 
man is born for a higher destiny, and that there is a realm 
where the rainbow never fades, where the stars always shine, 
and flowers bloom unending in the summer-land of song. Don't 
you know, my countrymen, that this Order teaches this doc- 
trine? Who, then, can have the temerity to oppose it? 



314 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Q. W. Atkinson. 



The rush and enterprise and energy of modern times, my fel- 
low citizens, have done much that is good. They have carried 
along education, morals, religion, government and law. But 
in these driving times, Business has made itself absolutely su- 
preme. Everywhere its maxims rule — everwhere its dictates are 
obeyed. Pity lifts its eyes, but touches no heart . Conscience parts 
its lips as if to speak, but its voice is unheeded and unheard. 
Charity extends her hand to bless, and often blesses not. This 
great power, or something which we call "Business", dictates 
and is obeyed. Its mandates are the law. Labor is often sla- 
very, although no overseer may crack his whip, and no master 
wields the rod. In these aggressive times nothing is considered 
which is not based upon well established principles of business. 
This great Street Carnival in Wheeling is business, and we are 
here to help to make it go; and when this living present, this 
marvelous, progressive business age shall have itself become 
the dead and distant past, those that succeed us shall find in 
us an example worthy of all imitations, and derive a new inspi- 
ration from the contemplation of the faded but not forgotten 
glories of an historic past. (Applause.) 

It is gratifying to all of us, my friends, that a spirit of im- 
provement is abroad in the land. Everything about us seems 
to be in agitation. Literature and science have taken up their 
march. Mighty are the interpositions of thought. Wonderful 
are the developments on all and every hand. Two facts, like 
the hands of God, uphold the world to-day. One is Faith— the 
other is W r ork. The power to believe and the power to work 
mark the genius and destiny of nations and men. The man 
who trusts and works and does not falter, is the man that wins. 
This Society, as I understand it, plants its existence and its fu- 
ture upon these great truths. It trusts in the Divine, and it 
works to uplift the human race. Xo wonder it has already won 
an enduring record. 

Although not a political institution, nor a reformatory insti- 
tution, nor a religious institution; yet it is a progressive insti- 
tution, a charitable institution, and a philosophical institu- 
tion. It nevertheless insists on purity in politics, ' 'golden-rule" 
living' between man and man, a proper recognition of an All 
Wise God, keeps apace with the progress of the times, lifts up 
the fallen, helps the erring, and stands upon the immutable 
rock of Truth, which is the basis of true philosophy and the 



Address to the Order of Elks. 



315 



highest ideal of citizenship in all countries and in all lands. 

My Mends, Avhen the world is without suffering and oppres- 
sion, the Philanthropist and the Samaritan may rest from 
their labors. When Governments are in all respects perfect, the 
political economist ma} 7 seek the shades of retirement. When 
the realm of science is exhausted, the philosopher can pause in 
his onward inarch to the infinite; and when these have per- 
formed their offices, and there is no longer the wail that goes 
up continually from agonizing hearts, then may the Charitable 
human being fold his arms and lie down to silent slumber until 
the ages cease to roll. But this cannot be accomplished until 
the follies of life are forever cast aside, and the great, seething 
mass of mankind are harmoniously united in the bonds of uni- 
versal brotherhood, and all the people have resolved that by 
the wisdom of faith, the strength of hope, and the beauty of 
benevolence, under God they will be one. Then, and not before, 
will the people sustain in life and transmit in death, pure and 
in i sullied, the fair and noble fabric of Benevolence, Justice, 
Brotherly-love, Fidelity and Truth which this great Order has 
erected to secure the happiness and prosperity of mankind. 

Pardon me, my countrymen, for a few words in conclusion, 
specific of the Order which has planned, and will carry out this 
splendid Street Carnival and Industrial Exhibition. The Order 
of Elks sprang from the society called "The J0II3' Corks", 
which was changed into the name of the present organization. 
It was in the beginning confined to Actors alone; but finding 
that the Society could not be held together by that distinctive 
class of members, its by-laws were widened so as to take in all 
other professions and businesses in life. The Order teaches 
charity, brotherly-love, justice and fidelity. I am informed 
that when one joins the Elks, he is promised charitable and 
benevolent treatment, and will be relieved when he is financial- 
ly, or from ill health, unable to help himself. Its Lodges are 
found in every State and Territory in the Republic. It is, be- 
yond question, one of the great arid growing Secret Societies of 
the Century, and is worthy of the confidence and patronage of 
good people everywhere. 

I thank you, my friends, for the consideration you have given 
me, and I trust that the week of the opening of the Oriental 
Carnival may be one of pleasure and profit to you all. (Ap- 
plause.) 



316 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



TO THE SOUTH 

Governor Atkinson Pays One of His Glowing Tributes in Ac- 
knowledging Receipt of Invitation. Announces His 
Intention of Attending if Official Duties Do 
Not Interfere. 



July 8, 1899. 



(Charleston Gazette.) 

Governor Atkinson yesterday acknowledged the receipt of the 
invitation from the chamber of commerce of Huntsville, Ala., 
to attend the industrial convention which is to be held there next 
September. The Governor expresses his desire to be present at 
the convention and announces his intention of doing- so if pub- 
lic duties do not interfere. His letter is a glowing tribute to the 
South, which the Governor knows so well how to praise. The 
letter is addressed to N. F. Thompson, Secretary of the cham- 
ber of commerce of Huntsville, Alabama. It says: I have be- 
fore me your letter of July 3rd, calling my attention to the fact 
of an industrial convention to be held at Huntsville Monday, 
September 4th, next, and inviting me to be present. Being a 
Southern man myself, both by birth and education, it is need- 
less for me to say that I am in deep sympathy with any move- 
ment that will advance the industrial progress of the entire 
South. I have always held that the South should be, and will 
be, the main manufacturing section of our great Republic. I 
have adhered to this idea because of the fact that the raw materi- 
als are found in the South, and a wise Providence certainly intend- 
ed that manufacturing should be conducted where the raw mat- 
erial exists. If the South, years ago, had taken up this ques- 
tion in its proper light, and had undertaken to manufacture its 
raw material on its own soil, employing its own labor and thus 
keeping its own money for distribution in its own territory, it 
would have been far in advance of what it now is. 

I am glad to know, however, that within the last few years it 
has abandoned its former custom of shipping its raw material 
to northern sections where it was manufactured, and then pur- 



The Negro Problem. 



317 



chasing' the finished products, paying the manufacturer's prices 
for the same, and has gone to work doing its own manufactur- 
ing. The South has the advantage of the Northern States in both 
coal, soil and climate, as well as in other natural resources; there- 
fore, if proper enterprise be shown by our Southern people, they 
will transfer during the next generation practically all the 
manufacturing establishments from the Northern and Central 
portions of the Republic to the Southland, where they ought to 
have been for a hundred years. 

I have spoken my views briefly upon this subject, and in plain 
language, because I am interested in the development and ad- 
vancement of the South, and have done my utmost for a quar- 
ter of a century to help my own people along in life. I trust 
that this industrial gathering of our Southern people in your 
city, will give a fresh impetus to Southern development, and 
that it will largely be attended by our representative people. 

1 cannot now say, because of my public duties and responsi- 
bilities, whether I can be with you or not, but whether I am 
there or not, you have my sympathies and will have all the as- 
sistance in my power to forward the objects of the gathering. 

Cordially and truly yours, 

Or. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of West Virginia. 



THE NEGRO PROBLEM. 

Governor Arkinson's Views Briefly Expressed on the Negro 
Problem in the Souths 

July 21, 1899. 

Editor "Sunday Inter Ocean," 
Chicago, 111. 

Dear Sir: 

Keplying to your inquiry relative to the "Negro Problem in 
the South," I will say briefly, that it is one of the most impor- 
tant questions that confronts us as a Nation. I have thought 



318 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



much upon it, and I frankly confess that I cannot solve it. I 
am a Virginian, and am therefore "to the manor born." I am 
familiar with the existing sentiment in the South against the 
negro. Southern people will not submit to negro rule "They 
will die first." This is an old Southern expression, and they 
mean it when they say it. 

I have carefully read the expressions used by one" Major Var- 
daman, of Mississippi," bearing upon the Negro Problem, which 
you kindly enclosed tome. He is one of the old, moss-back, fossil 
"MajahV'of the South, who sits around on nail-kegs and empty 
d^-goods boxes, and smokes, and whittles, and "cusses," and 
"shoots off his mouth" on Southern rights. Southern dignity, 
and Southern institutions and ideas. Much of what he says is 
correct and much is incorrect. When he says the Southern peo- 
ple have an abiding prejudice against the negro, and that they 
will never allow the negro to dominate them in any shape or 
form, he tells the truth. But when he says it is folly to attempt 
to advance the negro race by education, and in this way qualify 
them for responsibility and power, and that any effort, educa- 
tionally or otherwise, to uplift the negroes, is a waste of time, 
because by so doing we spoil corn-field hands and make "shys- 
ter" professional men,— he simply loses sight of good judgment 
and fair dealing, and seeks only to vent bis narrowness, preju 
dice and spleen against his "brother in black." Such men as 
this old "Majah" are clogs to the wheels of civilization and 
progress, and are a consequent curse to our fair Southland. 

Of course, you cannot convince him, the "Majah," that in 
making such foolish statements, he is not absolutely orthodox, 
and thinks that he is honestly helping all he can to settle the 
race controversy in the South. He, therefore, feels that he is 
doing right. He thinks he is honest. He knows that the great 
mass of Southern people will sustain him when he says that the 
South will not allow negro domination; but he did not stop to 
realize that he jumped into deep water when he said that the 
negro cannot be developed into anything but "shysters" by 
education. He simply allowed his prejudice to run off with his 
judgment. As a Southern man, bred and born, I deny the right 
for such prejudiced fossils as this dear, old "Majah" to speak 
for me. 

Major Yardaman refers slightingly to Booker T. Washington 
and his school. I have known Booker Washington from his in- 



A West Virginian for Vice President. 



319 



fancy, and I know of his integrity and his capacity, and his hon- 
est aims in the direction of solving the race problem in the 
South. The very fact that Washington has made his way from 
slavery and poverty to the high position he now occupies as a 
man of brains and education, itself proves the assertion of 
"Majak" Vardaman to be false, that education only makes a 
negro "a shyster lawyer or a fourth-rate teacher." 

I do not have the honor of Major Vardainan's personal ac- 
quaintance, but I will wager a farthing that Booker T. Wash- 
ington has forgotten more than the said "Majah" Vardaman 
will know, if he were to be allowed to live a thousand years. In 
my observation and experience, covering over a quarter of a 
century, I can truthfully say that there is a vast difference be- 
tween brains and bravado. 

The negro can and will be educated, despite such men as "Ma- 
jah" Vardaman, of the State of Mississippi. 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of West Virginia. 



FOR VICE-PRESIDENT. 

Governor Atkinson Thinks a West Virginian Should be put on 
the National Republican Ticket for Vice President in 1900. 

( From the New York World, July 23, 1899.) 

Governor Atkinson to a New York World reporter: — " Being 
a Southern man by both birth and education, naturally I would 
favor placing a Southern Republican on the National ticket for 
Vice President, provided one can be found who will accept the 
office, who is absolutely sound and reliable on all great National 
questions. I mean by the word "sound" one whose life record 
has no insane! outs; one who always has been true to every trust; 
one who has never wa vered under pressure of any sort; one who 
has never exhibited "a streak of rabbit" when emergencies arise; 
in short, an out and out man who always walks erect and who 
has never been known to waver in "a pinch". Wehavehadone 
sad experience by putting a Southern Republican on our ticket 



320 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



for Vice President. We cannot afford to have that experience 
repeated. The party will take no risks of that sort again. 

"Fortunately we have several big Republicons in the South, 
who have always been with us squarely upon all of the great 
principles of the party. There would be no risk in chosing one 
of them. You can always trust a man who is "died in the 
wool". If certain doctrines and principles are found in the 
"warp and woof," there is no danger of a serious change of front, 
whatever emergency might arise. 

"I say yes in answer to your query. I certainly will favor a 
Southern man for Vice President, if we can get the right kind of 
a man to agree to become a candidate for the office. But I will 
say no emphatically, unless his life record has been as true as a 
rain-drop upon all great questions which concern the country 
and the people. 

"West Virginia, which is a Southern State, has two men big 
enough and broad enough to fill the office, both of whom were 
born and reared Republicans, and whose records cannot be 
questioned. If either of them would accept the trust, there 
would be no quibling, if by accident either of them should be- 
come President. I refer to Senator Stephen B. Elkins and Judge 
Nathan Goff. They are big caliber men, and any one who knows 
them personally will agree that they would grace the Presidency 
itself. There are other Republicans in the South that I am sure 
would be trusted, but none are superior to either Elkins or Goff. 

"The South is going to be the big end of this country before 
many years, and it is high time that the Republican party rec- 
ognizes this fact. 

"G. W. Atkixsox, 
"Governor of West Virginia." 

Charlestox, W. Va. 
July 19, 1899. 



Opinion on Kobt. G. Ingersoll. 



321 



ROBT. G. INGERSOLL. 

Governor Atkinson's Views of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll. 

To the Editor of "Truth", 

New York. 

Dear Sir:— 

Replying to your request for my views of Col. Robert G. In- 
gersoll, recently deceased, I beg to say that, for many years, I 
have admired him as a rhetorician, an orator, a lawyer, a poli- 
tician and a patriot. I doubt if our country has ever produced 
his like as an orator and a forensic speaker. He is easily the 
"Lord Brougham" of the American bar, and the Wendell 
Phillips of the American platform. No one can rob him of 
these just claims. No American has ever surpassed him in the 
power to move and control an audience. In these equipments 
he was supremely great, and I believe the mass of our people 
generally admit it. Yet, in the estimation of the real merits of 
a manly man, there is something more required to enti- 
tle one to enduring fame than the marvelous natural powers 
and gifts possessed by the late Col. Ingersoll. I admit all that 
his friends claim for him as a great American, and yet I differ 
from his particular admirers in this, that he is entitled to the spe- 
cial consideration of am^body upon the main line of his life- 
work. 

Col. Ingersoll seemed to delight, on every occasion, to ridicule 
the Christian religion and those that believe in it. This course 
brought to him weak-minded admirers, who possessed no fixed 
principles of morals, and who had no definite convictions on 
the broad "golden rule" of living, which teaches what is right, 
and what is wrong. Naturally Col. Ingersoll would please and 
gratify this class of people, and they are many. Such people, 
however, do not think for themselves. They necessarily delight 
in having some one to formulate a basis of action which will 
give them an excuse to live riotously and defy the God who cre- 
ated them. They revel in the thought that they had some one, 
eloquent and able, who could stand between them and their 
consciences. With such people, as a matter course, Col. Inger- 



322 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



soli was powerful and irresistible, because his religion allowed 
them to do as they pleased— and more especially when they 
pleased not to do right. 

Such a religious teacher will always have a following. 

But Col. Ingersoll is dead, and only a few of our American 
people mourn. No one will proclaim that he was not a man of 
good impulses. No one will deny that he practiced, in his daily 
walks, the big human end of religion, by trying to lift up, in 
his way, the human race, and by trying to teach, in a social 
sense, higher ideals of life and duty. But in carrying out his 
ideas of right and wrong, he delighted seemingly in attacking 
a principle that has for two thousand years fostered the growth, 
development, civilization and enlightenment of the human race. 
He sought the destruction of this great principle, and offered 
nothing in its place. He assailed the deep-seated religious ten- 
dency of the human family, with ridicule and invective, and 
offered no compensation for the idols he sought to shatter. He 
appeared on all possible occasions, open to him, before great 
audiences, and seemed to delight in attacking and ridiculing 
the teachings of the gospel of the Christ. Although he offered 
nothing better, he seemed to be honest in saying what he did; 
and yet, the great mass of our people could not but believe 
that he was all the while talking "for revenue only". 

If he had offered something substantial and real to take the 
place of the faith of which he sought to deprive us, we might all 
the more respect him in life, and mourn for him in death. But, 
as I view it, his whole life-work seemed to be a determination to 
snuff out forever the torch of the Christian religion, which has 
for twenty centuries enlightened and brightened and beautified 
and ennobled the world, and at the same time substitute noth- 
ing in its place, I cannot conclude otherwise than that he, by 
so doing, was an enemy to himself and the entire human race. 

I have heard Col. Ingersoll lecture against my religious con- 
victions. I have read, perhaps, all of his writings. His criti- 
cisms of the Bible and the Christian religion were, to mind, 
purely superficial. Any well informed man or woman could 
easily and readily answer all of the "points" he thought 
he made. He left the impression upon me that all he 
was seeking, in his attacks upon the Bible and the Christian 
Church,— that all he w r as apparently seeking was general noto- 
riety and $ 200.00 a night and expenses for his lectures. He is 



Labor Day Proclamation. 



323 



now gone. His light went out in the twinkling of an eye. He 
has but few mourners, because his teachings did no one any 
good. His doctrines, if carried out, would narrow and belittle 
mankind. No principle that he assayed to teach could make 
the world cleaner and sweeter and kinder and happier. 
The virile opposition that he thundered against Christian- 
ity was helpful instead of an injury to its growth and progress. 
There has been vast progress in religious growth and work in 
the United States contemporaneously with Col. Ingersoll's self- 
appointed and self-sacrificing mission. No man perhaps since 
the days of Voltaire has done so much as Ingersoll to rob the 
people of our country of their peace of mind, to promote loose 
thinking and immoral living, and to undermine the foundations 
of that Christian civilization upon whose preservation and de- 
velopment the progress and welfare of humanity depend. 

Col. Ingersoll has now gone to his own place, — to his own re- 
ward. No longer does he "see through a glass darkly", as the 
Apostle expressed it. With him the great mystery of the future 
is forever solved. His name is left behind indissolubly linked 
with many virtues and with transcendant genius, but with it 
all is the one great mistake, that he ignored and ridiculed the 
God who made him for which he has, or will hereafter have to 
answer. 

Living, I admired Ingersoll; dead, I say "peace to his ashes." 

G. W. Atkinson. 

Charleston, W. Va., 
July 25th, 1899. 



LABOR DAY PROCLAMATION. 

State of West Virginia, 

Executive Chamber, 
Charleston, Aug. 5th, 1899. 
Whereas, By enactment of the Legislature, at its last gen- 
eral session, the first Monday of September of each year is to be 
set apart as Labor Day, which should be observed as a general 
holiday throughout the State. 
Now, therefore, I, George W. Atkinson, Governor of the State 



324 Public Addresses, &c 3 of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



of West Virginia, do hereby recommend and request that on 

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1809, 

All places where labor is employed within the State of West Vir- 
ginia, shall be closed, and that every available opportunity may 
be given to those who earn their living by the sweat of their 
brows to celebrate and honor the day which our lawmakers saw 
fit to dedicate to them. 

We have recently passed through a war with Spain, which we 
believe was a war destined by Almighty God for the upbuilding 
and advancement of the human race. Our arms and principles 
were triumphant. We should, therefore, be duly thankful. The 
victories we won in our conflict with Spain were the natural re- 
sults of our superiority, as a race of educated artisans and me- 
chanics, as well as a nation thoroughly schooled in the arts of 
war. A nation that can supply its people with all their needs, 
and at the same time furnish all of the munitions of modern 
warfare, is necessarily an irrepressible nation. Such a nation is 
the United States of America. Our people are not only an inde- 
pendent people, but they are a self-reliant people. They have 
learned the secret of how to care for themselves. The nation, 
therefore, that attempts to trample upon the American flag, or 
the American doctrine of equal rights in the great theater of 
life for any and all, has assumed an undertaking difficult to car- 
ry out. Spain found it so. Other nations that may try the 
same thing, will meet with like results. 

" Labor omnia vincit" is as true to-day as it was when the 
birds in the garden of Eden sang their songs at the birth of the 
human race, Labor is wealth, and labor alone produces 
wealth. The whole world knows this to be true. Therefore, as 
a State, we should honor the producers of wealth; and this is 
the reason our Legislature created a holiday which shall be 
known and honored as "Labor Day." 

It is, in consequence of all these facts, especially fitting and 
proper, that all men, employers and employees, should lay aside 
for this day their usual vocations, and by meeting in public as- 
semblies, and in all practical and fitting ways, seek to empha- 
size the dignity and worth of labor, and consider ways and 
means for a marked elevation and improvement of the condi- 
tion of the honest, faithful, industrious toilers and wealth-pro- 
ducers of our State. 



Lynchings. 



325 



In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my 
hand and caused the great seal of the State to 
[seal.] be hereunto affixed, at the Capitol, in the city 
of Charleston, this 5th day of August, A. D. 
1899, and in the 37th year of the State. 




By the Governor: 



Secretary of State. 



LYNCHINGS. 

Governor Atkinson Emphatically Against Lynch Law. 
Aug. 9, 1899. 



Editor "Broadway Magazine," 

1123 Broadway, 

New York, N. Y. 

Dear Sir: 

On receipt of your letter of the 7th instant, I purchased a 
copy of your August number, and I judge from your editorial 
comments, referred to in your letter, that you had, in your July 
issue, made some statement indorsing, under certain circum- 
stances, mob violence. 

I am a Virginian and know pretty well the character and 



326 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



make-up of our Southern people. In many ways we have been 
misjudged by our Northern brethren. Our people are free- 
hearted and full-blooded. We try to take care of ourselves as 
best we can, and we have never allowed anybody to trample 
upon us. In these matters we are, I think, pre-eminently right. 
But I confess that some parts of the South, by the hot-headed- 
ness of some of the people, have greatly injured the entire 
Southland. Our people, as a rule, are lawabidingand lawobey- 
ing. It is a gross injustice for Northern newspapers to charge 
generally that the people of the South have no respect for law, 
simply because a few persons here and there take the law in their 
own hands by resorting to mob violence. The great mass of 
Southern people are as obedient to law as are the people of the 
North. Their purpose is to do right, but they will not be tram- 
pled upon by anybody North or South. 

Now, as to lynching, or lynch-law, which is the subject of your 
editorial, I wish to say that I am at all times, under all circum- 
stances and forever against it. I believe nine times out of ten, 
the wrong parties have been strung up. I have myself witness- 
ed three lynchings, and it afterwards turned out that two of 
the three were entirely innocent; and so it is generally. Hence 
it ought not to be tolerated on that account. Morever it is 
both morally and legally wrong for any excited body of men to 
assume the right to take the law in their own hands, however 
great the provocation for such violence may appear. Lynchers 
cannot be classed other than as murderers in the sight of God 
and in the eyes of the laws of any and all States. Therefore, it 
seems to me, that every good citizen of all races and conditions 
should oppose mob violence. The Courts in most of the South- 
ern States, if not indeed, in all of them, do their full duty. Why, 
then, not allow every case of alleged crime to be fairly heard 
and properly adjudicated upon its merits? 

Lynchings are rare occurrences in West Virginia/ We have 
had but one in many years. I have always opposed them and 
always shall. 

Cordially and truly yours, 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of West Ya. 



Modern Educational Requirements. 327 



MODERN EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS. 

"Recognition Day" Address at Chautauqua, N. Y., Delivered 
by Governor Geo. W. Atkinson, D. C.L., 
of West Virginia. 



August 16, 1899. 



[From the Daily Chautauquan, Aug. 17, 1899.] 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

It is a pleasure, I assure you, to come from my Southern 
home to this charming- lake, and to this, the mother of all of 
our Chautauqua, Assemblies, to talk to you for a little while on 
"Recognition Day". This is a magnificent audience, and a 
great occasion. It seems to me that airy one should be able to 
speak, at least a little, when inspired by the presence of such 
a gathering of one's own countrymen as this. I have heard 
much of the hardheaded intelligence and the softhearted kind- 
ness of the good people who assemble every year, for study and 
for health, upon the banks of this beautiful inland lake ; and I 
am pleased to say that my several visits here have fully con- 
firmed my most sanguine expectations as to the beauties and 
advantages of the place. Everything is attractive around us 
to-day. The hills, the vales, the foliage, the lake, the steamers, 
the cottages, the trees, the auditorium, the halls, the ladies,— all 
things about this sylvan spot are both beautiful and charming. 
It is therefore delightful and, I trust, profitable, for all of us 
to be here. 

I have, on more than one occasion, my friends, publicly de- 
clared that the discovery and development of what is common- 
ly called the "Chautauqua Idea", is one of the greatest discov- 
eries of the century, which is now so grandly rolling out. Why 
do I say it? I will tell you: First, because it affords to the 
millions of our people a systematic method or plan for a prop- 
er use of our leisure. After all, my friends, this is a most im- 
portant matter. Every human being has several leisure hours 
on his hands every day of his life. How best can he spend this 
leisure? Chautauqua has answered,— by spending it in system- 



328 Public Addkesses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



atically arranged courses of reading and study at his own 
fireside. One will be amazed at the headway he can make in 
ten years by carefully following the Chautauqua methods of 
reading and study. If he is thoughtful and earnest and honest 
in his work, in ten years he will not only find himself well-read 
and well-informed, but he will find himself also well up in actual 
scholarship. It is, therefore, the common people's college, and 
its courses of instruction are so admirably arranged that it 
somehow induces the toiling millions to voluntarily grapple with 
all subjects and with all knowledge. Nobody, who possesses 
good sense, in these times will say that education is a bad 
thing. Some say that we need more science and less languages; 
others, more mathematics and less classics; others, more, me- 
chanics and less technique; but all say education is absolutely 
essential to good citizenship, because all the people know that 
education is power. The world, in this our day, is a vast chess- 
board, and we are all players on it,— and the educated, skilled 
players always win in every contest. 

Again I remark, Mr. President, that this is a practical school. 
It is not a place where intellectual pyrotechnics are touched off. 
What one gets here in the way of education, he can turn to an 
account in life. Lop-sided men and women do not usually pass 
through these varied arches. These students come up here on 
"Recognition Day", with heads and hearts erect, and with 
shoulders as intellectually square as the massive physique of 
John L. Sullivan, James J. Corbett, or Bob Fitzsimmons. The 
common sense doctrine is taught here that he is best educated 
who makes his body subservient to his will; that ihe great end 
of life, after all, is not so much dependent upon what is com- 
monly called education as upon action. My Chautauqua 
courses of study have taught me that what we need most is 
only as much knowledge as we can assimilate and organize into 
a basis for action; for if more be given, it may become injuri- 
ous. The world, my hearers, is filled with intellectual "wet- 
logs", rendered such by undigested learning. Over study is as 
injurious as no study. Too many coats of paint will crack un- 
der sun pressure, and are as ineffectual as no paint; while on 
the other hand, thin veneering is absolutely useless. So it is 
with education. We should beware of overloading lest we be- 
come topheavy; but we should take on enough learning to ren- 
der us intelligent and useful men and women. The ordinary 



Modern Educational Requirements. 



329 



life of an individual is not unlike the feeble flame of a miner's 
lamp, half smothered in some underground gallery until a draft 
of vital air kindles it into sudden glow and sparkle. Thus it is 
with the human family,— many of us have but a dull flicker of 
half-alive consciousness, until some outward breath causes 
it to flash into quick and quivering splendor. This outward 
breath is knowledge, and he who shines brightest and leaves 
the deepest impress upon his fellows, is the evenly educated 
man,— one who believes also in God and heaven and immortal- 
ity. 

Most of us, my friends, have enough ideas, but the trouble is 
our ideas are too vague. We have thoughts enough, but they 
are too nebulous. Like the milky way in the sky, they never 
crystalize into stars. We read without digesting, and while the 
intellect is thus widened, it often fails to focus when we desire to 
use that which we have studied, and had reason to believe that 
we thoroughly understood. We often make mistakes by too 
much digging in the dust-heaps of the past, instead of delving 
into the living mounds of the present. The genuine pay-dirt, 
as the miners express it, always lies below the surface. Only 
certain kinds of soil however will allow subsoiling. So it is with 
the human mind. It will not always pay one to plow too deep; 
and yet we should go deep enough to reach the cream of the soil 
which of necessity must lie below the surface. Books explain 
us to ourselves. Man tests man by rubbing up against one 
another, and all other tests are spurious. No one is, practically 
speaking, alive only in so far as he realizes life. Ones motive is 
the measure of his existence. Appreciation brings out thought 
and development. Therefore the mind must be nourished if it 
expects to grow. Chautauqua is the biggest, broadest intellec- 
tual gravel bed that I know of in this, or any other country, 
and is doing more to nourish the intellects of the masses than 
any other system of education extant, except the public schools 
of the common country. The reading courses and round-tables 
of the Chautauqua system are producing marvelous education- 
al results, to say nothing of the higher grade work by the 
Chautauqua University whose instructions go out from this 
place. 

My friends, the scenes are rapidly shifting in the great theatre 
of the world, as the old century is rolling out and the new cen- 
tury is coming in. With the old goes much that is worthless — 



330 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



with the new is coming that which will be most useful and prac- 
tical. The Keformation of the 16th century brought a revela- 
tion in religious thought, and the times in which we are living 
are bringing revelations in the methods of education for the 
masses of mankind; and the Chautauqua idea is in the forefront 
of these wonderful revelations. There is absolutely no room in 
the world for those that are intellectually deaf and blind. Un- 
fortunately there are men born deaf and dumb and blind, and 
there are men born with all these senses who are as blind as 
bats, as dumb as oysters and as deaf as posts. In these times 
is there an excuse for this? I think none can be honestly offered . 

Kant aptly said that the ultimate object of life and of all 
knowledge, is to give replies to the following three questions: 
"1. What can I do? 2. What ought I to do? 3. What may I 
hope for?" These are momentous inquiries, and involve mo- 
mentous problems. We can. if we will, do most every thing 
that is possibie. We ought to do our utmost in all of our un- 
dertakings, and then we can hope for great results. I admit 
frankly that the ''Chautauqua idea" has done much in the way 
of answering Kant's three great questions. The wise student 
will not turn away from any difficulty that confronts him. He 
will persistently press forward. He will not allow his way to be 
blocked by any ordinary impediment. In this great Chautauqua 
school, the faithful student gets knowledge which is practical — 
that which he can use. You who are before me work to know 
something, and not to pass examinations merely for the pur- 
pose of procuring degrees which of themselves are practically 
worthless. I have found that educational institutions do not 
make men any more than physical organization makes life. 
Men make themselves; therefore all should strive after the high- 
est possible ideal. All knowledge is good, but practical know- 
ledge is the best, because it can be turned to the greatest pur- 
poses in life. 

Many of these students, Mr President, wring knowledge from 
the hard hand of penury. They study more than they boat. 
They burn oil at their desks oftener than they rupture their 
muscles at foot-ball, and they waste none of their time at the 
opera or the pool-room. When they exercise their bodies, it is 
in honest toil earning honest bread by the sweat of their brows. 
Nor in this great school of work-a-day pupils do the fat ones 
swallow the lean, nor do the big ones trample upon the small. 



Modern Educational Requirements. 



331 



It is a cosmopolitan school wherein every fellow has an equal 
chance without reference to conditions or surroundings. This 
is an institution, as I understand it, in which thought is practi- 
cal^ free from all fetters, and in which all courses of knowledge 
and all aids to learning are accessible to all comers, without 
distinction of creed or country, riches or poverty. It is dis- 
tinctively a school for the masses, and he who will, may enter; 
and ,( the whosoever will" are the sort of people that avail them- 
selves of the real opportunities in life, and thus leave their foot- 
prints indelibly in the sands of time. I wouldn't give one hon- 
est, upright, square-shouldered individual, who has it in his 
mind and heart to do something for himself and his fellows, for 
a regiment of dukes and "dukesses," barons and baronesses, 
counts and countesses, who, although they may affix a "B. A." 
after their signatures, yet have but little more brains than a 
"pewee" or a "whippoorwill" or "Katydid." Don't you know, 
my friends, that the world is tilled with these sorts of mounte- 
banks and charlatans who live and die, and the great mass of 
mankind have not been bettered by their living, but are surely 
bettered when they die? Pardon me, my fellow citizens, for say- 
ing in this presence, that the world needs, above all others, men 
and women with teeth and corners and edges in them and on 
them to lift the world to higher conceptions of life and duty and 
responsibility to God and the human race. These are the sort 
of people that leave their impress upon society everywhere. 
These are the sort of people that make the world better and 
broader and nobler and grander; and these are the kind of peo- 
ple that are the life and power and backbone of this great Chau- 
tauqua movement. 

The desire to fathom the meaning of life, my hearers, is the 
most constant and universal of human longings. I have found 
from reading and observation that nothing else interests the 
human like the human. Man's greatest study therefore is man. 
Women, it is said, will talk about their neighbors. Philosoph- 
ers study the thoughts of others, and it is the general de- 
sire of many to look after other peoples affairs more dil- 
igently than their own. The knowledge of life— this seems 
to be the passionate quest of the whole race of men, and it is 
well that it is so. Books explain us to ourselves, and this is 
why we read them with pleasure and with profit. Some one 
aptly wrote, "Reading is the garden of joy to youth, but for 



332 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



age it is a house of refuge." Nothing, in my judgment, could be 
more clearly and attractively expresssed. 

Literature in its largest sense is a reflection of human life. In 
it are mirrored the thoughts, the hopes, the intellectual deve- 
lopment, the emotions, and the ideals not only of those who 
write it, but of those as w r ell for whom it has been written. Just 
as a great statesman or a great soldier incarnates in his single 
person the political tendency or the military history of his own 
time, so does the great author give articulate utterance to the 
spirit of the age in which he lives. 

Viewed in this way, it is evident that to read literature under- 
standingly, w r e must read it not as a mass of isolated and un- 
related products, whose meaning is wholly obvious and super- 
ficial. We must from the outset regard it as illustrating and 
embodying an unbroken unity. We must think of it as one 
great whole whose parts when taken separately and in detail 
may interest and instruct, but whose real significance can be 
rightfully perceived only when viewed in their relations to each 
other. Literature, in other words, is to be read always with 
the thought of comparison in mind, and witlrthe means of com- 
parison at hand. 

This truth was long ago both understood and recognized; so 
that even in ancient times we find collections made for the pur- 
pose of affording to the intelligent reader an opportunity of 
perusing the masterpieces of past ages side by side with one 
another, in order that each might receive the interpretation 
that springs from a knowledge of such other works as reflect 
still other phases of the same intellectual or emotional inspira- 
tion. 

Literature is a great stud}^, my young friends, because it is 
the greatest of all sources of refined pleasure; and one of the 
leading sources of liberal education is to enable one to enjo3 r 
that pleasure. There is scope enough, my- hearers, for the pur- 
poses of liberal education in the study of the rich treasurers of 
our own language alone. All that is needed is proper direction 
and the arrangement of systematic courses, both of which you 
have here at Chautauqua, and both of which you are persever- 
ingly carrying out; and this is one of the reasons why the work 
that you are doing has proven so effective. The lower and the 
higher education are but two parts of one great scheme, each 
ministering unto, and each receiving ministry from the other. 



Modern Educational Bequirements. 



333 



I am, and always have been, an earnest advocate of both. I 
believe firmly in the advantages of both systems. No school 
can supplant the university, nor can the university supplant 
the kind of training which you send out from this place. As I 
have said, one is dependent upon the other, and the world is de- 
pendent upon both. Everybody cannot attend the university, 
but everybody, who has sense and energy, can attend this 
school, and I am glad to know that something like a million of 
our people are doing it. This should be, and doubtless is en- 
couraging to you. 

The sort of education which emanates from here, embodies a 
broad and noble patriotism which is, as I understand it, entirely 
free from provincialism. The instruction which you give means 
more than love of mere territory. It means justice for all, 
helpfulness to the weak, and sympathy for the oppressed. You 
are helping to make patriots, Mr. President, and the educated 
patriot is the highest type of patriotism. A general, well 
rounded education promotes simple democracy. Wealth, birth, 
prestige, family a vail nothing under true democracy. Educa- 
tion wipes out forever all such classes as these. 

"It is neither wealth nor birth nor state, 
It is get-np-and-get that makes men great." 

A general system of education creates the true democratic 
commonwealth; and the broader the education, the broader and 
better becomes the commonwealth. The common school is the 
absolute nursery of equality. The Church of the Christ is the 
greatest leveler,and the public school is the next, and both have 
proved to be essential to the betterment of the conditions of 
the human race. Dr. Thwing, a leader in thought, aptly re- 
marked in one of his inimitable educational addresses, "Truth, 
without training, makes the mind a mere granary; training, 
without truth, makes the mind a mere mill without a grist to 
grind; truth and training make the mind a forcible agency 
of usefulness. But truth and training and culture make the 
mind a forcible agency both of usefulness and beauty." A 
great truth could not be more aptly expressed in so few words 
as these. We must conclude, therefore, that there is no real in- 
tellectual development that is not founded wholly upon truth. 
Education does for the mind what religion does for the soul. 
It trees out and builds up and broadens the intellect. One is 



334 Public Addkesses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



thus fitted to use his powers as the world may need them. The 
true education, therefore, is both of the mind and the soul. 
The genuine college life of to-day represents the endeavor of 
generations of zealous, earnest educators to make the present 
period of youth increasingly profitable. You have but to com- 
pare college curriculums of the present with the past, to prove 
that there is a constant growth in the variety of studies and 
the wonderfully improved methods of instruction. For more 
than two hundred years, the colleges of this country showed 
but little change or growth. The fact is, my hearers, the high 
school course of instruction of the present is almost, or quite, 
equal to the college course of sixty years ago. The boy now 
enters about where the colleges then left off. The last sixty 
years, therefore, have spread more than the spread or growth 
of the preceding two hundred years. Colleges and universities 
now seek to minister to higher scholarship. They not only 
train men now 7 , but they promote real scholarship. Practically 
all of the States of the Union have themselves taken up college 
and university work at public expense, and these iustitutions 
indicate the breadth and extent of the present educational 
field and its limitations of work. 

This progress or growth is also demonstrated by the higher 
education of women. By their education and advancement, 
the purpose is not particularly to make better wives or worth- 
ier mothers, but to qualify them for the great responsibilities of 
life, and to give them equal opportunities for the highest possi- 
ble attainments and results. They are now being taught to be 
large-minded and broad-minded, without neglecting humbler 
duties and becoming narrow and pedantic. In short, they are 
taught to do the highest work by the wisest inethodSy with the 
richest possible results. The elevation of women and the 
growth of true womanhood, during the past half century, have 
bordered on the marvelous. Some one has said, and truly, that 
womanhood is the correct gauge of genuine civilization. In 
other w 7 ords, the higher the standard of womanhood, the higher 
the standard of civilization in any and all countries. I believe 
this statement to be unqualifiedly true. Artemus Ward once 
said that the nation which uses the most soap is invariably the 
highest civilized nation. I admit that there is much truth in 
this proverb, but I assert in this splendid presence to-day, that 
that nation has reached the highest rung on civilization's lad- 



Modern Educational Requirements. 



335 



der that respects and honors true womanhood the most. The 
nation that contains the most good mothers will live longest in 
the ever-existing scuffle of the survival of the fittest. Napoleon 
was, in my opinion, supremely right when he said that what 
France most needed was mothers — ideal mothers. What the 
young men of America need most in these progressive, driving 
times are wives— educated, conscientious Christian wives; and 
their offspring will be the ideal citizens of the future. With the 
right sort of wives and mothers, my word for it, my country- 
men, the future will take care of itself. Given such, " the Great 
Republic" will perpetuate itself. Not given, our destiny will be 
dark and gloomy, indeed. 

Education, Mr. President, represents the enlarged and en- 
larging intellectual life of our people, male and female. Its pur- 
pose and scope are to raise the intellectual level of all classes. 
It gives breadth, variety, richness to the mind. Our colleges, 
however, render a greater value, as I see it, in training men than 
in promoting scholarship. They make big, broad, brainy men, 
rather than scientists. Classical educations are great in the 
scope of their power and influence, and should not therefore be 
depreciated; but broad, cultured Christian manhood and wom- 
anhood are better still. One is great in proportion to his ca- 
pacity to help his fellow man. One may be good without edu- 
cation, but his capa city to do good is restricted, because of the 
lack of the real implements of power, the greatest of which is 
culture. The best man, however, is not always the cultured 
man. The best man is God's man,— the man who will do right, 
"sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish." But one's power 
for doing the greatest possible amount of good, in the shortest 
possible space of time, is the educated individual who worships 
God and loves his fellow man. We must, therefore, not dispar- 
age the Church, because it is not only the mother of right liv- 
ing, but it is also the mother of higher education as well. 

College education was in the beginning wholly ecclesiastical. 
At that time the Church and State were one, and colleges were 
ruled wholly by the clergy. The next step in college work was 
intended to teach patriotism; and the third and the last step 
taken was to establish schools to fit young men and young wo- 
men, in a general way, for all the duties and responsibilities of 
life. It is well to have ecclesiastical training and patriotic train- 
ing, but better than all is the school that imparts general know- 



336 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Or. W. Atkinson. 



ledge which will equip the student for the great and growing 
battles of life. 

"Wouldst shape a noble life? Then cast 
No backward glance toward the past; 
And though somewhat be lost and gone, 
Yet do thou act as one new-born. 
What each day needs, that shalt thou ask; 
Each day will set its proper task. 
Give others' work just share of praise; 
Not of their own the merits raise. 
Beware no fellow man thou hate; 
And so in God's hand leave thy fate." 

Will you pardon me, ladies and gentlemen, for a few general 
remarks as a sort of summing up of what I have endeavored 
to say in this necessarily imperfect address, and also some con- 
clusions, which cover my own reading, study and experience in 
life? 

First of all, let me remark that the most useful education is 
not only the education that is general and practical, but to be 
effective it m ust embody details. The reason that so many ed uc- 
ated men and women fail of success in life, is because their know- 
ledge is too general in its scope and character. Information is 
worthless, unless it can be applied to specific purposes. The 
man who succeeds is the man who has discriminating powers. — 
one who can see a point definitely and clearly, and who can meet 
the issue raised instantly by commanding what he knows, or 
what he has studied. It will avail you but little, or nothing, nry 
young friends, to know everything, or a smattering of every- 
thing, if you cannot command it at the crucial moment. If 
you are engaged in one of the learned professions, you will be 
cornered, so to speak, almost every day of your lives, when the 
supreme test must come to prove your learning and your man- 
hood or your womanhood. You will not be allowed time to re- 
fer to books or manuscripts to refresh your memories on what 
you have gone over. You must speak on the spot, or forever after 
hold your peace. Y^ou will therefore find exact knowledge, exact 
information, exact statement, to be the sine qui non which will 
pull you through the great conflicts in which you of necessity 
must engage. Therefore, I exhort you to look out for details. 
Do not overlook the little things which the average individual 
considers of no value. Small things massed t ogether make great 
aggregates. To master details, however small, means absolute 
success in the end. 



Modern Educational Requirements. 387 



[Here the speaker gave a number of illustrations in a most 
attractive and convincing manner. He also discussed self- 
assertion and self-reliance, insisting that no one can succeed 
without these underlying essentials to real manhood and 
womanhood.] 

I desire also to impress upon your minds, my hearers, that 
there can be no success in life without earnest, honest, persis- 
tent, life-long work. When one has finished his college course, 
he has only received the mere basis of an education. He has 
only acquired the habits of a student's life, and has simply got- 
ten the "cue" to future toil. If he stops short, believing that he 
knows enough, and needs no more knowledge, he will soon find 
that he is badly mistaken. One may deceive himself, but he 
cannot long deceive others. President Lincoln once said, "You 
may deceive all the people part of the time, you may deceive 
part of the people all the time, but you cannot deceive all the 
people all the time." The great President was preeminently 
correct, and you will find it so. The man who wins out in the 
end, is the one who incessantly toils, and none others ever rise 
above mediocrity in life. 

[The speaker here elaborated the idea that work wins, and 
nothing else can enable him to succeed.] 

There is another fact which I wish to impress upon your minds 
to-day, viz: we must inject heart and spirit into our undertak- 
ings, and we must also have warm, gurgling, sympathetic, pal- 
pitating hearts for the welfare of others. The narrow-so uled, 
pop-eyed, pigeon-livered, selfish bigot— one who cannot see be- 
yond, or get outside of himself — is too narrow and little and 
mean to ever get a strong grip upon his fellow men. Such an 
one will live and die and pass out of sight forever, and no one 
will cast a flower upon his bier or shed a tear above his grave. 

[Upon this point the speaker eloquently pictured the outcome 
of a sympathetic nature, and a generous, loving heart. This 
was in fact, the most attractive portion of the address.] 

In conclusion, my countrymen, let me tell you what I believe 
to be true, and that is, the well rounded, well educated man or 
woman, will be a Christian, and will build for the future. 

[For ten minutes, or more, the speaker pictured, in the choic- 
est language, the advantages of the Christian religion, and the 
life that is to come.] 



338 Public Addresses, Sec, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



PROCLAMATION 

Issued by the Governor for Our People in General to Aid the 
Terribly Afflicted People of Porto Rico. 



Charleston, W. Va., August 17th, 1899. 
To the People of West Virginia:— 

I am in receipt of the following letter from the Honorable 
Elihu Boot, Secretary of War: 

War Department, 
Washington, Aug. 14, 1899. 

Sir:— 

I enclose herewith copies of two telegraphic dispatches received 
last evening from the Governor General of Porto Rico, by which 
it appears that the devastation wrought by the recent hurri- 
cane in that island is even greater than was at first supposed. 
It is evident that a great multitude of people rendered utterl}' 
destitute by this awful calamity must be fed and cared for dur- 
ing a considerable period until they can have the opportunity 
to produce food for themselves. Enormous quantities of sup- 
plies of the kinds indicated by the Governor General must be 
procured. 

The magnitude of the work to be accomplished leads this de- 
partment to supplement the appeal already made to the mayors 
of the principal cities of the country, by a more general appeal, 
and I beg you to ask the people of your State to contribute 
generously to the relief of the people of Porto Rico. 

Swift steamers have been provided to leaA^e the port of New 
York to carry the supplies directly to Porto Rico as rapidly as 
they can be collected. 

Contributions should be either in supplies of the character in- 
dicated or in money in order that the supplies can be purchased. 
The supplies should be sent to Col. F. B. Jones, Army Building, 
foot of Whitehall street, New York City, in packages plainly 
marked "Porto Rico Relief," and he should be consulted as to 
the time of shipment. Money should be sent to the National 



Aid Asked for Puerto Ricans. 



339 



Bank of North America, New York City, which has been desig- 
nated as a depository for the Relief Fund. 

Very respectlully, 

Elihu Root, 
Secretary of War. 

Mr. Root forwards to me copies of cablegrams received from 
Governor General Davis, of Porto Rico, in which are detailed 
the sad state of devastation now prevailing in our new possess- 
ions. These have been published in the newspapers, and it is 
needless to reiterate the sorrowful details of woe, want, suffer- 
ing and death. A late cablegram from Porto Rico informs us 
that already more than two thousand people have died in that 
stricken country as a result of the terrible hurricane. Thous- 
ands are homeless, other thousands injured and need medical 
aid, and almost the whole population will die of starvation if 
help does not reach them soon. Their crops were destroyed 
and their horses and other domestic animals drowned, and the 
fruit bearing trees upon which many depended largely for food, 
were uprooted. Not less than twenty-five hundred tons of food 
are needed at once. Such food as beans, rice and a cheap grade 
of cod fish, and such goods as cotton clothing, coarse cotton 
cloth, and needles and thread, are urgently needed. 

Money is wanted to help build and repair houses to shelter 
the people. All kinds of rough lumber, and other building ma- 
terials would be welcomed. For many months, until new crops 
can be grown, the people must be fed, or they will starve. 

Such a sad situation appeals to the commonest instincts of 
humanity. But these people have a double claim upon our gen- 
erosity. In the late war they welcomed our soldiers and strew- 
ed their pathway with flowess. They were joyous to become a 
part of the great Republic of which we are proud citizens. Hence 
the appeal is to our patriotism as w r ell as to our common hu- 
manity and gratitude. 

I earnestly recommend that the mayor of every incorporated 
city and town in the State, will at once call a public meeting, 
and that there be appointed a committee to collect and forward 
all donations; and that in the unincorporated towns and vil- 
lages and other neighborhoods, like meetings be held and simi- 
lar action be had. 

Whatever is done quickly is twice done well, for the situation 
is urgent and the appeal is from the dying. Let us all give as 



340 



Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



God has prospered us, with thanksgiving that He has spared 
our own beloved country such an awful affliction. 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of W. Va. 



WEST VIRGINIA RESOURCES. 

Charleston, W. Va., Aug. 18, 1899. 

N. Y. World, 

New York City. 

In reply to your request for a brief general statement of busi- 
ness conditions now prevailing in West Virginia, I have great 
pleasure in saying that this State is enjoying the greatest pros- 
perity known in its history. West Virginia is the richest State 
in the Union in natural resources. The development thereof is 
reaching wonderful proportions. There is no boom about it; it 
is simply natural and legitimate growth promoted by wise laws 
and good administration. There are thirty -six railroads pro- 
jected, eight of which are under construction. The trouble is to 
find men to build them. West Virginia is the first State in the 
Union for oil and lumber, second for coke, and third for coal. 

In a short time we hope to pass Pennsylvania in the manu- 
facture of coke, as her coke area is limited, while ours is almost 
unlimited. Eighteen months ago we passed Ohio in the pro- 
duction of coal, and this year we will go into second place, 
ahead of Illinois. 

Our oil production last year was 20,000,000 barrels of white 
sand oil, and oil is being found in nearly all the counties; we 
turned out 2,600,000 tons of coke and 16,000,000 tons of coal 
in the same period. Mines are being opened all over the State. 
Our lumber and timber industry was never so prosperous. We 
have 9,000,000 acres of Virginia forests; and it is difficult to 
estimate what the output will be. The prices are the highest 
and the demand the greatest ever known. Farmers were never 
so prosperous, and everything they can raise is marketable at 
good prices. The price and demand for live stock, especially 
sheep and cattle, are very good. 

Our production of poultry and eggs is enormous, and prices 



Return of the Tenth Pennsylvania Regiment. 341 



and demand therefor were never better. Our glass, iron, and 
steel manufacturing establishments are enj oy ing great prosper- 
ity. The demand for coal is good, and many new mines are be- 
ing opened. We produce the best coal in the world. The wages 
of miners have been increased. The conditions compared with 
one year ago, are greatly improved. Money is much more 
plentiful. Interest rates are from 5 to 6 per cent. 

The State Labor Commissioner wrote me last week: "There 
is no labor trouble in West Virginia at present. Wages are be- 
ing advanced everywhere and men who want work have it. I 
have recently returned from the upper Pan Handle where labor 
conditions are in excellent shape. Have been asked to supply 
labor on many occasions. For instance a concern, working 
four hundred and seventy-five men, asked me to furnish fifty 
men for steady employment and good wages. 5 ' 

G. W. Atkinson, 

Governor. 



OUR SOLDIERS. 

Remarks of Governor G. W. Atkinson, of West Virginia, Deliv- 
ered nt Pittsburg, Pa., upon the Return of the 10th 
Regiment from the Philippines. 



August 28, 1890. 



Mb. Chairman, Soldiers of the Tenth Regiment of Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers, Fellow Citizens of the State of 
Pennsylvania : 

During the late war with Spain, and immediately after our 
American soldiers had engaged the Spaniards in a fierce and 
bitter contest yonder on the Island of Cuba, Blanco telegraphed 
Sagasta, the minister of war at Madrid, "Our forces met the 
Americans today and we defeated them ; but they persisted in 
fighting and we retired from the field." At Santiago our 
troops fought their way up the slopes under fire of shot and 
shell, across ditches and over barbed-wire fences until they 



342 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson . 



reached the heights, stormed the fort and drove the Spaniards 
from their entrenchments, reared aloft the stars and stripes 
and securely planted our National escutcheon beneath the 
shadow of Moro castle, like Ethan Allen at fort Tyconderoga, 
"in the name of God and the Continental Congress." Our 
forces numbered but 16,000— theirs, 24,000. Therefore I insist 
today that that great battle fixed the ratio'of American valor 
at 16 to 24. 

This great regiment— the historic and immortal Tenth Penn- 
sylvanian— has not been to Cuba with Shatter and Wheeler and 
Lee, but it has been in the Philippine islands with Otis and 
McArthur and Lawton, bearing aloft our national ensign which 
stands for freedom wherever it floats. Yon soldiers of the 
Tenth have done your part in rearing that starry emblem so 
high in air that its folds today catch the first rays of the rising 
and the last rays of the setting sun. On the blood-stained bat- 
tlefields of Luzon, under the stars and stripes, you fought hero- 
ically and well, and you there wreathed about yourselves gar- 
lands of glory that time cannot efface. Many of your com- 
rades poured out their life-blood freely that the honor and in- 
tegrity of their native land might be respected and maintained. 
Other thousands are now being sent across the seas to take the 
places of those that have come home, to carry triumphantly 
forward the banner of human liberty and Christian civilization 
on both land and sea. 

The world is moving forward, and you, as liberty loving sol- 
diers, have done much to help it on. 

You will not go into history, my friends, as "the bloody 
tenth," but you have gone into history as one of the bravest 
and the best regiments of volunteer soldiers that ever leveled a 
musket or unsheathed a sword. The "citizen soldier" is the 
"minute-man" of progress and the harbinger of mankind. 

President McKinley, a year or so ago, standing by the tomb 
of the immortal Grant, said, "The deeds of a true patriot can 
never die." Standing here to-day in his presence as the Chief 
Magistrate of the greatest Nation beneath the stars, I reiterate 
that statement, and say to you, soldiers of the Tenth Pennsyl- 
vania volunteers, that the services you rendered your country 
and the cause of universal liberty, in the far away Philippines, 
will never be forgotten by a grateful and loving people like our 
own. 



Remarks Introducing Booker T. Washington. 343 



The President has honored you by his presence here to-day as 
you return once more to your homes and your firesides, and 
you have honored him and the American people by the services 
you have rendered at the front and in the brunt of battle. 

Napoleon, while marching his victorious army along the val- 
ley of the Nile, and within full view of the Pyramids of Egypt, 
said to his men, in stentorian voice: "Soldiers of France, from 
the summits of those pyramids the dust of forty centuries is 
looking down upon you." So I say to you, my countrymen- 
soldiers of the 10th Pennsylvania volunteers — the eyes of seven- 
ty-five million American people are looking down upon you to- 
day; and with loud acclaim they hail you, Well done, good and 
faithful servants and soldiers, enter into the joy of your homes 
in your own native Pennsylvania land. Hail, all hail! my 
countrymen ! May you in the years to come wear the laurels 
you have so proudly won, and may your days be long in the 
land of the great progressive, patriotic Keystone State of the 
great Republic which is to-day the wonder of the world and the 
admiration of men in this and all lands beneath the stars. 
(Prolonged ap] dause. ) 



BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. 

Governor Atkinson's Remarks in Introducing Booker T. Wash- 
ington at the Opera House, Charleston, West Virginia. 

August 31, 1899. 

My Friends and Fellow Citizens:— 

Embassador Joseph Choate in introducing Mr. Booker T. 
Washington at Exeter Hall, London, only a few weeks ago, 
said that he asked Mr. Washington how he came by the name of 
"Washington"? Whereupon Mr. Washington replied: "The 
freeing of the slaves in my country gave me the right to choose 
a name for myself, and I therefore selected the best one in 
sight." And Mr. Choate added, "this talented young man has 



344 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



maintained with great dignity that illustrious name in all the 
walks of life." 

Mr. Washington has perhaps done more than any other col- 
ored man now living for the advancement of the educational 
interests of his race in this country. His great school at Tus- 
kegee is a massive monument to his ability, education, skill and 
enterprise. Its growth borders on the marvelous. Only a man 
of extraordinary executive ability could, in so short a period 
of time, achieve such unprecedented and, I may say, marvelous 
results. I commend Professor Washington for what he has 
done and is now doing for his people. He has the correct con- 
ception of what is termed "The Negro Problem in the South." 
All well informed persons know that the wellfare of the negro 
in the South is so dependent upon that of the white race, that 
those who are making it their special mission to minister to 
the wants of the colored people have learned, as Professor 
Washington himself has learned, that the negro can rise in 
knowledge and prosperity only as the white race rises still 
higher. Both races must move together, hand in hand, in 
Christian Education and intellectual growth and development. 
One race in our country is absolutely dependent upon the other. 
The way out of existing weaknesses and embarrassments lies 
in pushing the public schools, the colleges, the universities and 
the Gospel of the Christ. 

The German poet Goethe aptly wrote:— 

"He only learns his freedom and existence 
Who daily conquers them anew." 

My friend, Mr. Washington, has no doubt found this to be 
true; and he has also found that it takes a constant struggle, 
a ceaseless battle to bring success from inhospitable surround- 
ings, because such efforts, of necessity, are the price of all great 
achievements. The man who has not fought his own way up- 
ward, and does not bear the scars of desperate conflict, does not 
know the highest meaning of success. There is scarcely a great 
man in history who has not been compelled to. fight his way, 
to eminence, inch by inch, against opposition, and often 
through ridicule and the abuse of friends as well as enemies. 
This young man Washington has been plowed and harrowed 
full enough, but with it all he has achieA^ed success both as an 
educator and a leader of his fellow men. 



West Virginia as It Is, and as It Will Be. 



345 



It has been my pleasure to know Professor Washington from 
his boyhood. Being* a native of this— Kanawha — County, 
where both of us were reared, I have watched his career with 
unabated interest. He has steadily grown in mental and moral 
stature, until he stands to-night easily the foremost man of his 
race on this Continent. This, my friends, is saying a good deal, 
but it is nevertheless true. I take great pleasure therefore in 
introducing him to this splendid audience as the speaker of the 
evening.— Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Booker T. Washington, 
formerly of West Virginia, but now of the United States. 
(Loud applause.) 



OUR STATE. 

West Virginia as it Now is and is Soon to be, by Governor G. 
W. Atkinson, A.B., LL. B. 



Executive Department, 

Charleston, W. Va., September 8th, 1899. 

Editor "Manufacturer's Record", 

Baltimore, Maryland. 

Dear Sir: 

I take great pleasure in complying with your courteous re- 
quest to furnish your readers an article upon the material re- 
sources of nry State, and its outlook for the future. It is only 
within the past few years that the people outside our borders 
have sought to acquaint themselves with what we have and are 
in the "Mountain State" of the Republic. Fortunately, how- 
ever, for them and us, of late, they have begun to turn their 
eyes upon us. 

It is now, I think, generally conceded that West Virginia is 
really a great State, and I very much doubt if any other State 
in the Union is keeping apace with us in growth and develop- 
ment. Coal and oil and gas and timber are our principal sour- 
ces of wealth. Out of 25,000 square miles of area, 20,000 are 



346 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



coal and oil and gas miles; and we have yet remaining between 
eight and nine million acres of virgin forests. So you see, our 
natural resources are practically inexhaustible. 

We have in many sections of the State 89 feet of coal meas- 
ures above water level, and in boring for oil we find many valu- 
able coal seams deep down in mother earth. So that when we 
consume our drift veins of coal, we can engage our time and 
energies for a few thousand years shafting for the "dusky 
diamonds" that lie beneath the level, The opportunity there- 
fore for money investments in West Virginia coal acres is almost 
without limit, and it can be done without risk to the investor. 

Outside of West Virginia, coking coal is getting scarce, while 
with us it is only in its infancy; and this is why the coalmen are 
coming among us and are rapidly buying up our coalfields; and 
this is one of the reasons also why our State is so rapidly com- 
ing into public notice and public favor. We are now next to 
Pennsylvania in coke production. We are third among the 
States in coal output, and will be second within a year. We are 
first in oil— having shipped in the last twelve months over twen- 
ty million barrels, and we believe that it will yet be found in 
every portion of the State; and as to gas, it is absolutely with- 
out limit. Timber— big timber— grows on every hillside, and 
the buz of the mill-saw lulls our people to sleep and awakes 
them from their slumbers at the dawning of the morn. So, on 
the whole, we are prospering. Business of all kinds is good, 
and there seems to be plenty of money in the land. 

Viewed from an agricultural and horticultural standpoint, 
the State is making rapid progress. Stimulated and encourag- 
ed by the earnest and well directed efforts of an aggressive non- 
partisan State Board of Agriculture, which is ably seconded 
and materially aided by the Patrons of Husbandry, and other 
kindred organizations, great improvement is readily seen by 
those who are familiar with past conditions, and who observe 
things as they exist to-day. As the husbandman gradually 
adopts a more intensive system, and cultivates well the limited 
number of acres he owns upon which a paying crop is practical- 
ly certain, conditions are changing for the better, and in time, 
if this system is adhered to, the cultivated portions of our State 
will be greatly advanced, and those who own and cultivate them 
will be among the best, happiest and most progressive people 
within our borders. Such families will enjoy all the opportuni- 



West Virginia as It Is, and as It Will Be. 347 



ties for mental improvement and culture which are necessary 
to their well being and happiness. 

There are many reasons why agricultural pursuits pay as well 
in this State as in many others, which are generally considered 
much more desirable, as homes for those who propose to follow 
this first and greatest of all industries. Our nearness to the 
large markets of consumption, our very few crop failures, and 
the great diversity of products we are able to grow successfully, 
are a few of the many reasons we could give why agriculture, 
properly followed up, will prove as profitable in this State as in 
any other State in the Union. We should only cultivate such 
lands as are suited to that purpose, and this is an important 
lesson which we are slowly but surely learning. 

We have other uses to which we can put our hill lands, and 
which oft-times prove just as satisfactory and remunerative to 
our people. 

This State is pre-eminently a grazing and fruitgrowing State, 
and our up-lands and mountain tops, which are in no sense 
adapted to the growing of the cereal crops, are the ideal fruit 
farms; and when well set in the famous blue grass which is in- 
digenous to a large area of our surface, make a veritable parad- 
ise for sheep and cattle, especially for the former. There are but 
few acres in the State that may not be profitably used for graz- 
ing sheep and cattle, and for the production of as fine colored 
and fine flavored fruit as can be grown anywhere in the world. 

There are now many thousands of young fruit trees coming 
into bearing, and in the very near future the number of orchards 
of commercial importance will be greatly increased, and the rev- 
enue to the owners and the State will be very considerable. The 
proper location, the proper soil, the most profitable varieties, 
the time and mode of planting, as well as the care of the trees 
and the handling of the fruit at maturity, are all becoming to 
be better understood, which will greatly stimulate the industry, 
and make it both more pleasant and profitable to the growers, 
and more satisfactory to the buyers and consumers. The im- 
provements which have been made in orcharding within the 
past few years have been both marvelous and gratifying, and 
this promises to be one of our large sources of income in the 
not distant future. 

The improvement in our domestic animals has also been very 
marked within the past few years, and the importance and de- 



348 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



sirability of procuring pure bred sires is becoming general 
throughout the State. With this improvement in breeding and 
feeding will come increased profits, and this in turn will increase 
the number of domestic animals, a,nd the income of our people 
from this source will soon be more than doubled, which will 
cause the few remaining mortgages upon the farms of the State 
to disappear, I trust forever. 

We have made much progress along these lines, but we still 
need fewer number of acres more thoroughly and scientifically 
tilled; a much greater acreage of blue grass, and a larger num- 
ber of sheep and cattle of a higher grade to fatten and grow in- 
to money upon our farms. We need hundreds and thousands 
more of carefully selected fruit trees, by men who have been 
carefully educated and trained in such work, to cover our hill- 
sides, and make beautiful and profitable the now many waste 
places of our mountainous and yet wealth-laden State. 

These desirable necessities are coming, and coining rapidly, 
and with proper encouragement and protection, the husband- 
man, together with those engaged in the development of our 
many other sources of wealth, will be ushered into the Twentieth 
Century with brighter hopes and higher aims and ambitions 
than they have ever known before. 

Education and development will go hand in hand, and a high- 
er, happier and better citizenship will be the inevitable result. 
We welcome the twentieth century, with its star of hope for our 
people, and trust that they will make the proper use of every 
opportunity, and meet heroically and bravely every obligation 
of American Citizenship. 



ADDRESS 

of Governor G. W. Atkinson, LL. D., Ph. D., of West Virginia, 
at the Civic Federation, held in the City of Chicago. 



September 13, 1899. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention:— 

This gathering, as I understand it, is to consider the rela- 
tions of our citizens to one another as citizens, and to consider 



Address to the Civic Federation. 



349 



also the best methods to be used to protect the masses from 
the encroachments of combines and trusts; for it seems that 
this is a period favorable to the organization of such combines 
all over the civilized world. 

I believe in progression. In this respect, I am an evolution- 
ist. I believe that the world ought to grow, and that men 
ought to grow with it. Some sorts of combines are, I think, 
economic necessities which grow out of our complex civilization 
as a Nation. The great manufacturing establishments of the 
world, covering all branches of industry, had very small be- 
ginnings; and we, in a large measure, owe the progress we have 
made to men of means who combined or united into what we 
call "Corporations" to make this advancement possible. But 
there is a vast difference between a Corporation and a Trust. 
It seems to me that every citizen, who possesses any sort of 
common sense, will favor corporations, because individual citi- 
zens, as a rule, cannot in and of themselves alone furnish suffi- 
cient capital to develop the resources of any of the States of 
our Republic. It requires vast sums of money to handle great 
undertakings One man alone cannot supply the nenessary 
capital to build up great industries, which have for their object 
the development of a State or a Nation; but several men of 
means, by combining, can raise the necessary amount of capi- 
tal to accomplish the desired purpose. This necessity brought 
corporations into existence. What one man cannot do, for 
lack of means, several men can accomplish by combining the 
capital which each of them can commend. In this way corpo- 
rations are formed. In this manner railroads are constructed, 
mines are opened, mills and factories are built, industries are 
established, men are employed, and the natural resources of a 
country are developed, which necessarily employ labor and 
thus bring wealth into a country. Hence I say that every citi- 
zen of a country, who possesses ordinary common sense, should 
be favorable to corporations. Nevertheless we have in our 
midst thousands and tens of thousands of our people who seem 
to hate them and fight them on every hand, notwithstanding 
the fact that they secure from such concerns reasonable com- 
pensation for their toil, and by means of which they obtain the 
necessary means with which they support their families and those 
dependent upon them. With this class of people, my fellow cit- 
izens, I have no sort of sympathy. I assert here to-day that a 



350 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



corporation properly conducted, is entitled to as much sympa- 
thy, support and respect as an individual, because a corpora- 
tion, in law, is an in dividual. I wish therefore to be written 
down, my countrymen, as a friend and backer of corporations, 
because no State can be developed without them, and there can 
be no growth and development, if they are inhibited by law, or 
are not properly supported by the people. Without corpora- 
tions, to-day we would be without railroads, coal and coke op- 
erations, silver and gold producers, banks and other acknowl- 
edged necessities for the public weal. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, 
when I hear men in politics and elsewhere, whining the dema- 
gogue cry, "down with corporations", I am ready to join the 
crowd of enterprising people who will cry from the hustings and 
the house tops, down with that class of malcontents and dem- 
agogues! I am not an optimist per se, nor am I a pessimist. 
I have no sympathy for any one who puts in his time whining 
against capital. We unfortunately have, however, too many of 
this class of croakers in our midst. AVhat we need is more cap- 
ital in legitimate business undertakings. We must have men 
everywhere who will invest their money in building up and open- 
ing up the industries of all of our States. We have in West Vir- 
ginia more coal and coke and oil and gas and timber than the 
United States can consume in hundreds of years. What we now 
need most is capital to help us on in our work of development. 
We are ready and willing to welcome to our domain men of en- 
terprise and men of means from all sections of the Union, and 
from abroad as well, to come among us and aid us in develop- 
ing the resources which a wise and beneficent Providence has 
bestowed upon us, and which are open to all comers. 

West Virginia, my friends, is the first oil and gas and timber 
State in the Union. She is second in coke, and third in coal. 
She has more coal area than any other State, and it is only a 
matter of limited time for her to be first in coal and coke pro- 
duction, as she is now first in oil and gas and timber, because 
the coal and coke business is, after all, only a question of the 
survival of the fittest. With more veins of coal than any other 
State, and all or mostly all of a better quality than any of our 
competitors, especially for gas and steam and heat and coke, we 
are bound to hold our own, and in the end come out on top of 
any and all competitors. Hence I again say, Mr. President, that 
West Virginians generally are friendly to corporations, and 



Address to the Civic Federation. 



351 



we will and do gladly welcome men of means to come among us, 
and thus help them and us not only to "keep the wolf from the 
door," but at the same time aid us to lay up a surplus for "rainy 
days," which will sooner or later come to one and all. We wel- 
come therefore corporations and capital, because they help us 
as West Virginians to build for both the present and the future. 

Now, I take it, Mr. President, that all present understand 
how I feel towards capitalists and towards corporations which 
always represent capital and capitalists. The next point to 
which I desire briefly to allude is the Labor problem. I am 
now and always have been a staunch friend of the toiling 
masses. I stand for the working man, because he alone pro- 
duces wealth. He takes the iron ore, the coal, the oil, the gas, 
the precious metals, the lead, the zinc, etc., out of the bowels of 
the earth, and, by his skill, transforms them from the natural 
to the finished product. In this way he produces wealth. In 
the same manner he brings out of mother earth the necessary 
articles for the sustenance of mankind. He alone therefore is a 
wealth producer. Why, then, should he not have our honest, 
earnest support? I say, unhesitatingly, that he has my best 
wishes. 

Labor and capital are interdependent. One cannot get on 
without the help of the other. The laboring men have the 
same right to organize for their advancement and protection 
as have the capitalists. The same privilege must be extended 
to one class as to the other. So long as the laboring man does 
his duty, and keeps within the limits of the law, he will have my 
sympathy and support. But I have never yet favored a strike 
or a lock-out so long as it was possible to prevent it by just 
and friendly arbitration ; and I have never yet known, and I 
say it boldly, a strike or a lock-out, in all my experience and 
observation, that did not result in injury to both labor and 
capital. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I favor arbitration to settle 
all disputed problems between capital on the one hand and la- 
bor on the other. 

While I stand here as a representative of the common people, 
and insist that they should be properly treated, yet I confess 
that there are other Trusts in this country than "money 
trusts". Laboring men have their organizations, as I have al- 
ready stated they ought to k have, and are entitled to have. 
But somehow however a portion of these organizations have 



352 Public Addresses, &c, oe Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



not properly taken into account the strife and loss of time to 
themselves and their employers occasioned by strikes which 
they have seen fit to bring upon themselves. There are there- 
fore not only capital trusts, but there are sometimes labor 
trusts also. I wish to place myself on record against both, and 
especially so when the demands of either or both are not in ac- 
cord with the well established rules of political economy and 
common sense and common honesty between man and man, 
whether rich or poor, black or white. Laboring men, have no 
more right to combine for the purpose of sustaining that which 
is unjust and unreasonable than capitalists. Hence I wish to 
declare here and now that arbitration alone can properly ad- 
just controversies of this sort, and the man who opposes this 
kind of adjustment is wholly out of joint with the spirit of the 
times in which he lives. Capital and labor should deal fairly 
with each other, and if they cannot at all times agree, let the 
controversy be arbitrated by a just, unbiased and honorable 
tribunal. No conservative, honest man, in my judgment, can 
or will oppose such adjustment. 

This brings me, Mr. President and gentlemen, to a brief con- 
sideration of "Trusts", which is the main question before this 
Federation. In all of my private and public acts in the past, 
my "musket" has always been pointed against Trusts, and if I 
know myself to-day, it is still pointing the same way. It seems 
that our country has, within the past few 3 r ears, gone trust 
crazy. I cannot understand why, but it appears to be a fact. 
Nevertheless this lunacy fad, if I may call it such, is not con- 
fined to this country alone. It is just now reaping a harvest 
everywhere and in all lands. Nor is it confined to any one 
political part}^. I find about as many Democrats in trusts in 
the United States as Eepublicans, aud I find at least two of the 
mammoth trusts of this country are, in a sense, Democratic 
Trusts. Therefore, I conclude, Mr. Chairman, that we cannot 
choke them out by drawing political lines upon them. They 
have grown up as the result of existing conditions, and they 
cannot be stamped out by any or all political parties simply 
resolving against them. To sweep the trust issue into politics, 
and resolve one way or the other, as is the custom now-a-days 
in political conventions so to do, it seems to me, is "wasting 
fragrance on the desert air." We must come nearer home for a 
remedy than that. We must hit at its tap-root by National 



Address to the Civic Federation. 



353 



and State legislation by making it a penal offense against good 
government for men of great wealth to combine for the sole 
purpose of stifling and choking middle men and small dealers, 
as trusts have generally done in the past. 

Or better still, if the trusts would take their employees into 
their combines and their confidence, and will, after paying 
themselves a reasonable dividend on the actual amount of cap- 
ital stock invested, and then agree to distribute a reasonable 
share of the profits among the skilled artisans whom they em- 
ploy as a per cent, or profit upon their wages, the trusts would 
then be placed upon an honest, popular and reasonable founda- 
tion, and no one could complain or justly oppose them. I can 
see no reason why such an experiment might not be made by 
employers, nor can I see why it would not succeed. To do this 
v\ ould bring about harmony to a large degree between labor 
and capital, and would measurably— though not entirely — take 
the fangs out of the trust and the combine. This is one of the 
ways, and it seems to me to be the logical way, to settle this 
ever-existing controversy, and settle it right, because it would 
then be a just, and, I may say, enlightened co-operation, and 
you all know that co-operation is the fundamental principle of 
a trust. It is, in short, the very heart of it. The trouble, how- 
ever, with the most of the trusts, as they are now conducted, is 
that the "co-operation" is all one-sided — all in favor of the 
stockholders, while the skilled laborers and the consumers are 
wholly ignored. This seems to be the fundamental principle — 
the foundation, so to speak, on which the whole Trust move- 
ment rests. Why, then, cannot its scope be widened so as to 
take in or embrace all the classes whose interests are involved? 
So long as the Trust now stands, and so long as it is thus con- 
ducted, that long it will be antagonized by the masses, and it 
therefore cannot be enduring, nor can it result as a permanent, 
profitable investment for the stockholders, nor can it in any 
way benefit the mechanics or the people in general. 

Mr. President, I do not wish to be understood as opposing 
modern methods of progress. I believe in conserving in every 
possible manner the waste of time and energy of thegreat mass 
of our people. The day of wooden plows and stage coaches and 
horseback mails have gone by forever. To keep abreast of the 
times in which we live, we must use all modern discoveries and 
appliances. We must of necessity " keep in the push" or other- 



354 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



wise perish. All wise people will strive to reduce every possible 
waste of energy. The blacksmith-shop and the wooden plow 
were good enough in their day. They answered the purpose 
then, but they are out of date now. Old methods have been 
steadily discarded, and economical appliances operated by 
steam and electricity have been substituted therefor. The same 
is true in almost every business avocation peculiar to our peo- 
ple. The Trust seems, on its face, to be a step forward in the 
ever-shifting drama of growth and progress. It claims as its 
main purpose to save waste in production and distribution. 
Every student of political econonry will admit, in a measure, 
the force of this particular claim, because the greatest enemy to 
human progress is waste. While it may be true that a number 
of factories in a particular industry, which have been competing 
with one another in a, particular line of production, agree to 
unite for a common purpose, consenting to not fight one an- 
other, and purposing to furnish a particular article of manu- 
facture to the consumer at a specific price, of itself is not neces- 
sarily wrong. Indeed, it appears to be right on its face; but it 
may be wrong— forever wrong,— and usually is wrong, as I see 
it, for two especial reasons: First, This combine can and will 
(if it is looking out for its own interests alone) increase the 
price of its product to the consumer, and at the same time 
cut the wages of its employees; and, second, every small man- 
ufacturer engaged in that particular industry will either have 
to quit business or join "the combine". But the combine will 
doubtless say in reply that the small manufacturer can himself 
join the Trust, or keep on as he is then doing, if he likes. How, 
I ask, can he continue his business successfully, if all of his com- 
petitors in the same line of production have combined against 
him? They can, and will, for thepurpose of "freezing him out", 
cut prices until he has "to squeal and throw up the sponge", 
and then the combine has its own way and can fix its own 
prices, and it usually does so, and all of you who hear me know 
it and know it well. In cases of this sort, the small dealer suc- 
cumbs and the "combine" fixes its own prices and the people are 
compelled to submit. 

Nevertheless, Mr. President and gentlemen, I confess I am one 
of the people of this country who is not hysterical over this 
Trust controversy. I am inclined to the opinion that it can 
and will be regulated by wise and proper legislation, and by 



Address to the Civic Federation. 



355 



public sentiment, which in the end, always settles matters of 
this sort. All political economists agree that the prevention of 
waste (unnecessary waste) by all nations is the secret of their 
growth and success. This proposition is unquestionably true, 
and I will therefore not undertake to controvert it. A wise man 
will save every cent, every dime, every lump of coal, every par- 
ticle of manure, everything that can be utilized to better his 
condition and help him on in life. But it seems to me that no 
intelligent man will favor any measure which will place himself 
at the mercy of a few of his fellow citizens, who will have it in 
their power to say what he shall do, or what he shall pay for 
that which necessity requires him to purchase. 

1 am aware of the fact, Mr. President, that the backers of 
Trusts set up three distinct claims or arguments in their de- 
fense, viz: 1st, That they pay the highest rates of wages to 
their employees; 2nd. That they furnish the best articles to the 
consumer; and, 3rd. That they furnish them lower or cheaper 
than they can otherwise be produced. While I admit that there 
is something in these claims, yet they are true only in a re- 
stricted sense. The first of these claims is, I think, absolutely 
true. Trusts pay big wages because they employ none but 
high grade men and women which they can afford to do. The 
second proposition is perhaps true in most cases, but by no 
means in all. The third claim is only true in a few instances. 
If I had the time to-day I could definitely mention them to this 
Federation. But in the generality of cases, prices to consumers in- 
crease instead of diminish where Trusts are enforced. Therefore, 
the few, and not the many, are the direct beneficiaries of these 
Trust Combines. Consequently, my countrymen, when one pauses 
and considers carefully all the facts involved; when he thought- 
fully weighs both sides of the issue before him; when he seriously 
reflects, as it is the duty of every good citizen so to do; when 
he sees the vast multitude of his fellow countrymen, who have 
fitted themselves by education and experience as "middle men" 
in the various avocations of life, necessarily thrown out of em- 
ployment because of Trusts; and when he goes farther and 
thinks of the thousands and tens of thousands of his fellow 
countrymen of limited means, yet at the same time industrious, 
sober and enterprising, who cannot, because of their limited re- 
sources, cope with the Trusts and Combines, and are necessarily 
forced to quit business, then the enormity of the wrong (not to 



356 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson . 



say crime) of choking them out of an honest effort to support 
themselves and families, can be fully understood and fully ap- 
preciated. 

If the advocates of and participants in the Trusts could sat- 
isfy the minds of the masses upon the following: propositions, 
they would then have but a limited opposition in the years to 
come, viz. : 1st, Will you and can you, in all cases, as you 
claim, agree to furnish a better and cheaper article to consum- 
ers of all the necessaries of life covered by your Trusts and Com- 
bines ; 2nd, What do you propose to do with the tens of thous- 
ands of middle men now employed, who of necessity must lose 
their present positions; and, 3rd, What will become of the 
"small dealers" scattered over our country from Maine to Flor- 
ida, and from the surges of the Atlantic to the sunset sea whose 
waves make music in the golden sands of California? What are 
you going to do with this large class of our fellow citizens who 
are now prosperous and happy in their present occupations? 
These are momentous problems and involve momentous re- 
sults. 

I may be wrong, Mr. President, in my conclusions; but it 
seems to me, as an unprejudiced, unbiased American citizen, 
whose only purpose is to do what he can to advance the inter- 
ests of the great majority of all our people, that if the Trust 
idea is to be carried out in this country, there will be no use for 
"middle men'' among us; and the small dealers mid small man- 
ufacturers and small operators in any and all lines of business, 
who are now earning honest livings and supports for them- 
selves and those dependent upon them, will be things absolute- 
ly of the past. Like Othello, their "occupations will be gone". 
And what of the other, and the greatest of all the considera- 
tions before us as non-partisan American citizens, viz.: Will the 
Trusts, can the Trusts, dare the Trusts here agree to furnish to 
the great living, helpless, and in many instances hapless mass 
of our people, a better and a cheaper article which all of them 
must of necessity use, than they are now required to pay for 
the same? If the Trust can do this, I will call off my opposi- 
tion, feeble as it is, and will join them and bid them God speed 
in their work. Otherwise, I am against them, and desire that 
they will here and now class me as an enemy. 

It is not my purpose or desire, my fellow citizens, to block any 
avenue to the progress and development of my country; but it 



Presenting a Sword to Capt. F. E. Chadwick. 357 



is my purpose and desire to do anything and everything that I 
can to prevent capital from overslaughing labor, and to do my 
utmost at all times and under all circumstances, to aid the 
working man to earn an honest livelihood for himself and those 
dependent upon him in the ever existing scuffle between man 
and man to live and to let live which has been going on from 
Adam down to McKinley. (Prolonged applause.) 



REMARKS 

Of Governor G. W. Atkinson, at Morgantown, West Virginia, 
In Presenting a sword to Capt. F. E. Chadwick, of 
the United States Navy. 



October 10, 1899. 



(From the Morgantown New Dominion.) 

Captain Chadwick, my Friends and Fellow Citizens:— 

In the American Republic, heroism and romance go hand in 
hand. Heroism is like the ancient temple which defies time and 
s.torm, while romamce is like ivy which clings about the temple 
and tenderly conceals the ravages of the years as they ceaselessly 
come and go. Our Republic, young as it is, has produced and 
is still producing a galaxy of heroes whose names will ever 
be the synonyms of chivalry and daring. The years of 1898 
and '99 have been epoch years in American History and 
American valor. Our armies on land and sea, in those two 
years, have won unfading and immortal renown. Their victor- 
ies rank with those at Salemis and Trafalgar, and the records 
they have made will be as enduring as the stars. 

Perfect valor, my friends, consists in doing without witness all 
one should be capable of doing before the whole world. A crime 
against the civilized world and posterity will grow in magni- 
tude as time rolls on, and will forever and to the remost times, 
blast the name and the fame of him who committed it. But the 



358 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



man who does a noble and a patriotic act,— an act that will 
elevate and ennoble his fellow men, will be cherished by the peo- 
ple that are good until the centuries cease to roll. 

All along the centuries, my fellow citizens, the sword has been 
regarded as an emblem of authority and a symbol of power. In 
the sacred scriptures we read of "the sword of the Lord and of 
Gideon," and how with it that great chieftain and defender of 
the Faith used it with mighty effect upon the enemies of the liv- 
ing God. Shakespeare, in immortal verse, describes "the sword 
of Damocles" suspended forever above the heads of those that 
persist in waywardness and wrongdoing. The Egyptians, the Per- 
sians, the Babylonians, the Greeks and the Romans, in the cen- 
turies agone, placed the sword in the hands of their chieftians, 
and with it was conveyed the authority to command, pursue 
and conquer and rule. The mighty sword of England flashes 
in the sunlight all around the world today. Oar own American 
"Damascus blade" unsheathed in the cause of truth, liberty and 
higher civilization, is lifting Cuba and Puerto Rico to more ex- 
alted conceptions of life and duty; and before the nineteenth 
century passes into history, it will, if I mistake not, bring to 
the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands better government, 
broader ideas of civilization, greater liberty, and eternal grati- 
tude to the American sailor and soldier, although the formerly 
oppressed Filipinos do not seemingly understand it now. War 
is right, forever right, when waged for liberty, righteousness and 
truth; but w T ar is wrong, forever wrong, when waged simply for 
conquest and extension. 

We have assembled here today, my countrymen, to honor one 
of our citizens who as a sailor and soldier has greatly honored 
us. Some of our enterprising public-spirited West Virginians 
have brought the fact conspiciously before the people of our 
State, that Captain F. E. Chadwick, a native of this thriving 
city, is entitled to more than passing mention, because he com- 
manded bravely and conspiciously the flag ship "New York," 
when Cevera's fleet went down in the great naval battle of San- 
tiago. Brave as only Virginians can be, Captain Chadwick, 
with the stars and stripes floating from the masthead of his 
great American battle-ship, amid shot and shell, that historic 
day in July, 1898, with his other co-commanders in that im- 
mortal contest, won more than Lord Nelson won at Trafalgar; 
they won more than a "peerage and a grave in Westminster 



West Virginia Developments. 359 



Abbe}^," they won the hearts and admiration of all the people 
of "the great republic." They won indeed, our admiration and 
our gratitude forever. 

I am glad to know, sir, that there are no spots upon the ho- 
rizon of your long and eventful military career. It is today 
and has ever been as spotless as a maiden's and as unsullied as 
a ray of light. The brave, clean, manly sailors and soldiers are 
the men the people reverence and love, and they will never cease 
to honor such heroes until time shall cease to be. 

And now, my dear captain, as a slight expression of the high 
appreciation in which you are held by your neighbors and your 
friends here at Morgantown — the place of your birth — indeed, I 
may say by the people in all parts of West Virginia, I am di- 
rected by them to hand you this sword. It is made of high 
grade material, and in this respect it is emblematic of the stern, 
true stuff out of which you yourself were moulded. Take it, my 
friend and countryman, and unsheathe it ever in the cause of 
right and liberty; and may God's best blessings forever rest upon 
you is the sincere wish of your thousands of friends who are as- 
sembled here today. (Prolonged cheering.) 



WEST VIRGINIA DEVELOPMENTS. 

By Governor G. W. Atkinson, A. M., of Charleston, West Vir- 
ginia. 

October 10, 1899. 

Editor Manufacturer's Record, 

Baltimore, Maryland, 

Dear Sir:— 

As a citizen of West Virginia, I am more than gratified over 
its marvelous development. We are easily the first of all the 
States in oil and gas and timber, and we are second in coke and 
third in coal production. I am daily receiving inquiries as to our 
actual status in regard to these great industries. In order to be 
exact in my statements on these subjects, I have conferred with 



360 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



Chief Mine inspector J. W. Paul, and with his assistance I can 
speak authoritatively upon our great West Virginia industries. 

COAL AND COKE. 

The past year marks the State with having been the most 
active in the production of coal and coke. Xo previous year in 
the history of coal mining in the State has shown greater activ- 
ity than the past. Labor troubles were practically nil. The 
number of days worked exceeded any previous year, and the 
production of coal is 1,404,752 tons in excess of the largest 
previous production of any one year. The tonnage for 1898 
was 16,010,248, and for the year ending June 30th, 1899, was 
17,415,000 long tons. At the present rate of progression, 
coupled with the exploitations now in progress, it will be less 
than five years until the tonnage will reach over 20,000,000, 
and it is not beyond a conservative prophecy to predict that 
West Virginia will in two years be the second coal-producing 
State in the Union. 

In the matter of coke manufacture, this State maintains its 
position as second only to the State of Pennsylvania. Dur- 
ing the past year, there were manufactured 1,900,000 tons of 
coke. Many new coke ovens are under way of construction, 
and it would be a difficult matter to state what position the 
State will occupy as a coke producer five years hence. 

OIL. 

The first well drilled for oil in West Virginia was in 1 859-60. 
Since that time there have been hundreds of wells drilled, vary- 
ing from a few hundred to three thousand feet deep. From 
these there has been produced to date about 80,000,000 barrels. 
The banner year of oil production was during the past year, 
when the quantity produced amounted to 16,000,000 to 17,- 
000,000 barrels of white-sand oil. During the early develop- 
ments, the facilities for drilling were not so well suited for their 
purpose as they now are, and the progress was less rapid. At 
present the experience of 35 years enables drilling to be carried 
on in a very aggressive manner, and it is a question if our out- 
put of oil grows much larger, unless some new large pool be dis- 
covered, or some of the present pools become extended in their 
development in a profitable way. This statement is based upon 
the idea that the Standard Oil Company, which controls oil de- 



West Virginia Developments. 



361 



velopments, will hold us down to their requirements, as they 
only allow developments to be made as their interests demand. 

In 1891 the State of Pennsylvania produced over thirteen 
times as much oil as did West Virginia. In 1898, West Vir- 
ginia produced 13,603,000 and Pennsylvania 15,232,000 bar- 
rels of white-sand oil. 

Since 1891 the production in Pennsylvania has decreased over 
fifty per cent., and in the same time West Virginia has increased 
over five hundred per cent. This State bids fair to lead all the 
States hereafter in point of oil production. Indeed, I think 
there is no question as to the correctness of this statement. 

At present there is great activity in the eastern extension of 
what is called the "Cairo field" in West Virginia, which may be 
looked upou as a field with a promising future. Practically all 
the oil produced in the State is known as the "white sand" type 
having a paraffine base, which is the best of all natural oils. 

As productions decrease in adjoining States, the natural 
course of oil seeking capital will be to extend the present boun- 
daries of the oil pools of this State, but with what results the 
drill only will reveal, because oil has never been definitely locat- 
ed, except by actual test. 

GAS. 

The importance of gas is not the least of our natural resources. 
The State of West Virginia produces a greater volume of natural 
gas than any other State. Fully 500,000,000 cubic feet is a 
small part of the daily flow of gas from the West Virginia wells. 

A large portion of the natural gas consumed in Pittsburg 
comes from West Virginia wells. There is little probability of 
the gas supply exceeding the present production, since it is not 
considered to be inexhaustible. Ours will be the fate of other 
States in this respect, and a few decades doubtless will show the 
"Gas period" to have seen its best days at the closing of the 
nineteenth century. At least this is believed by our best in- 
formed geologists. 

At present, there are only a few towns and cities west of the 
central part of the State which do not utilize gas as a source of 
heat — both for manufacturing and domestic purposes. This 
State is the first to have utilized gas for manufacturing pur- 
poses. Burning Springs, on the Great Kanawha Kiver, so long 
viewed as a curiosity, was no more than a natural escape of gas 



362 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



from the strata of the earth. This "burning spring" was first 
first discovered by President Washington, and a " warrant" 
was placed upon it by him in 1754, and he owned the property 
for nearly fifty years. 

Natural gas was first used under the evaporating vats of 
salt furnaces on the great Kanawha River, in Kanawha County. 
The large volume of gas which goes to waste in this State in 
sections suitable for manufacturing purposes, should be a strong 
incentive for capitalists to come to the ''Mountain State" where 
an abundance of gas may be had at a cost much less than the 
expense of solid fuel in the form of coal or wood, or, indeed, any 
other sort of fuel. 

I have said nothing in this article in regard to timber. All I 
now wish to say is that we have over eight million acres of vir- 
gin forests, covering all classes of hard and soft woods. No 
State, in my judgment, can offer opportunities to lumbermen 
equal to the State of West Virginia. And while we do not pro- 
fess to be a great farming country, yet our soil is rich, the cli- 
mate is good and farming is profitable. Our location as to the 
great markets of the east and north is so satisfactory, that 
farmers and stockraisers can make no mistake by investigating 
the advantages which West Virginia offers to these industries. 



ARBOR DAY PROCLAMATION. 

State of West Virginia, 
Executive Chamber, 

Charleston, Sept. 5, 1899. 
Whereas, the State of West Virginia has not established by 
Lesgislative act, a day to be known as 

ARBOR DAY, 

as has been done by many of our sister States; and 

Whereas, I am clearly of the opinion that it is the duty of 
our people to begin the custom of planting trees, as well as de- 
voting their best energies, as they have been doing for a hun- 
dred years, to cutting and destroying our trees, which a wise 



Arbor Day Proclamation. 



363 



and beneficient Providence caused to grow and flourish in the 
valleys and on the hill-sides of almost every acre of ground with- 
in our borders; and 

Whereas, the time has arrived, in my judgment, to plant 
trees as well as to destroy them, which we have been doing for 
so many years, and are still doing, I feel it to be my duty, as 
Chief Executive of the State of West Virginia, to call the atten- 
tion of all of our people to this important matter. 

Therefore, I, George W. Atkinson, Governor of the Common- 
wealth of West Virginia, do hereby proclaim and set apart Wed- 
nesday, October 11, 1899, as 

ARBOR DAY 

in the State of West Virginia, to be recognized as a day for the 
planting of trees by any and all persons who believe in building 
as well as destroying. Let this day be set apart by every indi- 
vidual citizen of the Slate of West Virginia as a day on which 
every citizen, of mature years, will agree to plant a tree of some 
sort, indigenous to our climate and locality. We have one mil- 
lion people in our State. At fewest one-fifth of this million are 
old enough and strong enough to plant one tree, to be known in 
the the future as his or her tree. Time alone can tell what the 
fruits will be from such planting. Let us try it, my fellow-cit- 
izens. It will cost us but little time or effort. Walnut, poplar 
and white pine trees are getting scarce in West Virginia. Why 
not plant them numerously, and in this way renew the crop? 
These particular trees do not reproduce themselves. The people 
alone can reproduce them. Let us go to work, as we ought to do, 
to perpetuate the crops of these rapidly departing West Virginia 
trees. 

An old Arab proverb says, "Blessed is the man who planteth 
a tree." Why should not all of our mature people be classed 
among the "blessed"? I can assign no good reason why we as 
West Virginians should not be so classed. Can you? 

In view of all of these facts, I call upon all good citizens of the 
State of West Virginia, to join with me in making Arbor Day, 

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1899, 

an overwhelming success, as the first real ARBOR DAY West 
Virginia has ever observed, 



364 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



To carry out my idea in this important matter, I call upon 
every public school teacher in the State of West Virginia, every 
Board of Education, all Boards of Trustees of our public 
schools, the Board of Regents of the West Virginia University, 
the Board of Regents of our State Normal Schools, all farmers, 
and citizens generally; whether residents of country, town or 
city, throughout the entire State, to cause the day named to be 
a day for general tree planting, which will be remembered as a 
day in which West Virginia took one step forward to preserve 
her forests and beautify the homes of her people with trees 
which God gave to them as his heritage to mankind. 

To this end let every West Virginian take part. Let suitable 
programmes be formulated by our schools of all grades, and let 
all the people take a hand to make it a. day long to be remem- 
bered, so that it may not be discontinued, as the years come 
and go, while the world stands. 

In Testimony Whereof, I hereto sign my 

name, and cause the great seal of the State to be 
[seal.] affixed, this the 5th day of September, A. D., 

1899, at the City of Charleston, and in the 37th 

year of the State. 




OJUAMK^ 



Governor of West Virginia. 



By the Governor: 



Secretary of State. 



Respite of Frank Broadenax. 



365 



A RESPITE. 

Charleston, West Virginia, 
Executive Department, Oct. 9, 1899. 

A PROCLAMATION BY THE GOVERNOR. 

Whereas, at the June Term 1899, of the Criminal Court of 
McDowell County, one Frank Broadenax was indicted for the 
murder of Sherman McFadden; and, 

Whereas, at the August Term of said Criminal Court the said 
Frank Broadenax was convicted of murder in the first degree, 
aud was sentenced to be hung at the Penitentiary of the State 
on the tenth (10th) day October, 1899; and, 

Whereas, it appears from statements made to me by said 
Broadenax and others that he was not guilty of malicious in- 
tent to murder the said McFadden, but onthecontraiy the said 
murder was the result of accident and carelessness; and, 

Whereas, it seems to be my duty in the premises to grant 
sufficient time to said Broadenax to furnish me with all the ev- 
idence taken at the trial in the Criminal Court of McDowell 
County aforesaid: 

Therefore, I, George W. Atkinson, Governor of the State of 
West Virginia, do hereby grant a respite of thirty (30) days to 
said Broadenax, in order to enable him and his friends to furn- 
ish me with the evidence taken at his trial aforesaid. 

If, in the mean time, the evidence which it is claimed he can 
furnish me, does not satisfy my mind fully that the murder of 
said McFadden was the result of accident and carelessness and 
not malice, I hereby order that at the expiration of thirty (30) 
days, as aforesaid, namely on Thursday, the ninth (9th) day of 
November, 1899, the Warden of the Penitentiary shall proceed 
to execute the said Frank Broadenax in accordance with the 
sentence of the Judge of the Criminal Court of McDowell County, 
rendered at the August Term, 1899, aforesaid. 

Given under my hand this ninth (9th) day of October, A. D., 
1899, at the City of Moundsville, in the State of West Virginia. 

G. W. Atkinson. 

By the Governor: 

Wm. M. 0. Dawson, 
Secretary of State. 



366 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



A PROCLAMATION BY THE GOVERNOR. 

Whereas, The tenth day of October, A. D., 1899, a respite of 
30 days was granted Frank Broadenax, who was convicted of 
murder by the Criminal Court of McDowell County, and was 
sentenced to death— by hanging — that day. Said respite was 
given for a period of thirty days, until the evidence in the case 
could be carefully investigated by the Executive; and 

"Whereas, All of the evidence taken at the trial of said case 
has been procured and examined by the Executive, and, 

Whereas, A careful examination of said evidence has satisfied 
the Executive, beyond all reasonable doubt, that said Frank 
Broadenax deliberately, maliciously and premeditatedly mur- 
dered Sherman McFadden, a boy not more than sixteen years 
of age, and should pay the penalty therefor. 

Therefore, I, Geo. W. Atkinson, Governor of the State of 
West Virginia, do hereby order and direct that t he Warden of the 
State Penitentiary shall hang the said Frank Broadenax by the 
neck until he is dead, on Thursday, the ninth day of November, 
1899, and may the Lord have mercy upon his soul. 

Given under my hand and the Seal of the 
[seal.] State, at the city of Charleston, this 4th day 
of November, A. D. 3 1899. 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor. 

By the Governor: 

Wm. M. 0. Dawson, 

Secretary of State. 



SOUTHERN INDUSTRIAL CONVENTION. 

Speech of Governor G. W. Atkinson, D. C. L., of West Virginia, 
Before the Southern Industrial Convention at 
Hunts ville, Alabama. 



October 13, 1899. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention: — 

I am a Southern man with Northern principles, and I some- 
how feel that I ought to be allowed a good deal of latitude in 



Southern Industrial Convention. 



367 



the remarks I may make here to-day. I am a Virginian — born 
and reared on the "sacred soil" of that great, old "Mother Com- 
monwealth". Her interests are mine and I revere and love the 
name of Virginia and the dear Virginia people. But having 
been educated mainly North of "Mason and Dixon's line", I 
could not do other than oppose human slavery and make the 
best fight I could for the universal freedom of the human race. 
Naturally I became a Republican in politics, and am one yet; but 
I am not here to talk politics and we will therefore pass that 
wholly by. I am here to-day as a Southern man, bred and born, 
to exchange views with my Southern brethren, and to join with 
them in a systematized movement, if one can be inaugurated, to 
bring to the attention of our countrymen, and to the world 
at large, the vast resources and the advantages which Nature 
has bestowed upon us as a people Avho fortunately reside in the 
Southern portion of our great Republic. 

We are not here, Mr. Chairman, to talk either partisan poli- 
tics or narrow sectionalism. We are here to compare views. 
We are here to consider what we owe to ourselves and to our 
country as citizens in doing what we can to bring to the atten- 
tion of capitalists in and outside of the United States, the nat- 
ural advantages which we possess as a people, and induce 
them, if we can, to come among us and invest their money to 
help them and us on in life. As I understand it, this is the sole 
purpose of this convention. If we adhere to this idea alone, 
and leave restricted sectionalism and partisan politics wholly 
outside, this great gathering will, I am sure, accomplish some- 
thing; but if we inject the two monsters above referred to in 
our deliberations, it would have been better that all of us had 
remained at home. 

If we confine ourselves to the course suggested, Mr. Chairman, 
much good will result from this Conference. If, however, we 
should chance to dip into a discussion of the tariff or finance, 
or so-called imperialism, or any other partisan political ques- 
tion, we will accomplish no good for the people we represent. 

We have therefore assembled, my friends, to consider great 
business problems which concern one and all, and along this 
line I propose to talk. I am a Republican, as I have already 
stated, and I don't care who knows it; but above and beyond 
everything else I am an American, and I stand afterwards for 
the South and for Southern people; and yet there is much of 



368 Public Addresses, &c., of Got. G. W. Atkinson. 



what is called in newspapers as the "Southern idea." that I do 
not indorse. When my Southern fellow citizens close them- 
selves tightly inside of a shell of prejudice, and resolve among 
themselves, as has been often done in the past, that there is 
nothing good or real or valuable outside of their way of doing 
and thinking, then I am not with them, but on the contrary I 
am squarely against them. To get on in this world, men must 
be broad and liberal and progressive. They must give and 
take, and must meet their fellow men half-way on all important 
issues. The only fit place for narrow-minded, pop-eyed, pigeon- 
livered bigots is in grave-yards, and the sooner they get there 
the better for all concerned. This is plain talk, but 1 am like 
the old Methodist brother who wrote out his prayer and pasted 
it on the wall near the head of his bed, and every night when 
he retired, he simply exclaimed, "Dear Lord, them's my senti- 
ments", and leaped into bed. I am simply expressing my honest 
sentiments — nothing more, nothing less. If any of you object, 
I can not help it. I came over a thousand miles to meet with 
you and talk over the big business problems which confront us 
as Southern people, and to do what I can as an humble citizen 
to bring growth and prosperity to our people in the richest and 
most promising portion of the Republic. 

As I have already said, Mr. President, God in his wisdom and 
his goodness, planted in the Southland of our wonderful coun- 
try, vast beds of natural wealth, and it seems to me that he in- 
tended us to utilze these resources on the spots where he left 
them, and not allow them to be shipped away to other and 
often remote sections to be worked up into finished products 
for consumption by our Southern people. I may be wrong 
in this conclusion, my fellow citizens, but nevertheless I have 
been sticking to this idea and talking it and arguing it tor 
more than a quarter of a century; and as I haven't much longer 
to live in the world, I propose to keep on talking it till I die. 

The larger portion of all the Southern States, my hearers, is 
wonderfully endowed with what is commonly called "natural 
resources". Inadditionto this, the climate is mild and equable, 
the soil is rich, the scenery is unsurpassed, the great waterways 
offer cheap transportation, and the people are open-hearted, 
kind and generous to a fault. In all the Southland there is no 
record of one asking bread and being given a stone, or asking 
a fish and being handed a serpent. Our Southern people are 



Southern Industrial Convention. 369 



not built that way. It is a well known fact that they will in an 
emergency divide their last loaf of bread with a brother in need. 

This well known peculiarly, I think, is greatly to their credit 
- as a people. A tender-hearted, sympathetic man is worthy to be 
classed as the "salt of the earth". There is a large amount of 
this sort of salt in the warp and the woof and filtered into the 
blood of nearly all of our Southern people, and it will stand 
greatly to their credit until the cycles cease to roll. 

Pardon me, my fellow citizens, for bringing to your attention 
some of the prominent resources of my own State; and when I 
speak of West Virginia, my remarks may be applied in a meas- 
ure to perhaps a half-dozen other Southern States, almost if 
not equal in wealth with my own State of West Virginia. While 
West Virginia is a fairly good agricultural State, her great 
wealth lies mainly in coal and oil and gas and timber. 

In coal our increase for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1899, 
over the proceeding year, was 1,404,752 tons. Our output for 
this year is 17,41 5,000 long tons of 2240 pounds to the ton. 
At this ratio of increase, we will reach the 20,000,000 line inside 
of three years. 

In coke production we are second to Pennsylvania. Our out- 
put for the present fiscal year was 1,900,000 tons,— an increase 
of over a quarter of a million tons over last year. Many new 
coke ovens are now being constructed, and it is hard to tell 
what position the State will hold as a coke producer five years 
hence. 

In both coal and coke, as well as in oil and gas, West Virgin- 
ia's development has been almost phenomenal. 

As to oil and gas, fellow citizens, my State is unquestionably 
the eternal centre. We rarely bore a deep hole in the earth that 
we do not find one or the other of these now invaluable pro- 
ducts. The first oil well was drilled in what is now the State of 
West Virginia in 1859, and a good flow of oil was discovered. 
Since then thousands and even tens of thousands of wells have 
been drilled from which have been taken not fewer than 80,000,- 
000 barrels of the oleoaginous fluid. Our output of oil now 
averages from sixteen to twenty million barrels every year. 

In 1891 Pennsylvania produced over thirteen times as much 
oil as did West Virginia. In 1899 we outran our neighbor in 
the oil race, and we are now in the lead to stay. Since 1891 the 
production in Pennsylvania has decreased over fifty per cent., 



370 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



and in the same period West Virginia has increased a little 
above five hundred per cent. Therefore as productions decrease 
in adjoining oil States, the natural course of oil seeking capital 
will be to extend the present boundaries of the oil pools of West 
Virginia. Having apparently unlimited oil territory, our West 
Virginia people must hereafter furnish the greater portion of 
this essential article for many years to come. 

As to timber, Mr. Chairman, I need only say that a large por- 
tion of our West Virginia hills are still covered with all kinds of 
desirable timber. We estimate that we have in the neighbor- 
hood of eight million acres of virgin forests. Not forests of the 
puny sort, but forests of trees so tall that one has to lie flat on 
his back to see to the tops of some of the tallest of them. When 
a squirrel gets on the topmost branches of the very highest of 
some of our great trees, he does not look much bigger than one 
of your healthy, well developed, double-decker female Alabama 
mosquitos. Some of}^ou think that lam dealing in hyperboles, 
but I tell you, my friends, there is more truth than poetry in 
these off-hand statements. If you prefer not to accept my state- 
ments, come up to West Virginia and see for yourselves. One 
thing you can always bank on, a Virginian won't lie,— he'll steal 
first, and then kill you if you catch him at it. (Laughter.) 

But I almost forgot to say a few words about West Virginia 
gas. I don't mean the kind of gas that some of you evidently 
are thinking about. I mean the gas that God made,— the kind 
you get out of the bowels of the earth, and not the sort that 
evolves or evolutes out of the bowels of political wind-bags. I 
do not mean the wind-jammer men, some of whom you have 
down here in Alabama,— that class are practically a "has been" 
in West Virginia. That "race" with us is substantially extinct. 
Like the Buffalo and the mastodon and the razor-backed hog, 
they are gone, and we are happy that it is so, While we are 
"boomers" in a sense, we don't "blow" simply because we don't 
have to. The fact is my friends, it keeps us busy to tell the 
truth, and we therefore have no time to do the other thing. I 
tell you the unvarnished truth, my hearers, when I declare that 
we are as busy as nailers trying to get rich ourselves off the 
products which God gave us, and at the same time we are en- 
deavoring to make everybody else rich who will come among us 
and join the throng of our busy-bee workers. If a man wants 
employment at good wages in West Virginia, he can get it for 



Southern Industrial Convention. 



371 



the asking; and the opportunities for capitalists to invest mon- 
ey with the early prospect of big returns never was so good as 
now. And I want to tell you, my friends, they are coming, not 
in droves, so to speak, but they are coming and are taking a 
hand in digging the dusky diamonds from our hillsides and are 
pumping out the pools of oil which Plato has been distilling 
since Adam left the garden of Eden with his shovel and his hoe; 
and still there is room for more. Our doors and arms are open 
to receive all comers, and our latch-strings, as they say out 
West, are always on the outside. We don't care "a Continental 
red" where a man comes from if he has get-up-and-get in his 
make-up. We draw no political or sectional lines on any one. 
We have got away beyond that, my conntrymen, yes, way be- 
yond that! We have long since forgotten where the North ends 
and where the South begins. We quit calling Northern people 
"Yankees" years ago, because we learned the important fact 
that the Northern fellows had sense, sand and shekels, and 
these are the sort of fellows that win, and they are the sort of 
fellows that we want for citizens of our State. What we need 
in West Virginia is more Yankee nerve and money, and we are 
willing to burn red lights and kill the fatted calf when they 
come. Long ago we quit fooling about where a man comes 
from when he locates among us. All we want to know is he 
somebody, and we at once proceed to take him in the same as 
if he were one of our native born countrymen. 

The trouble with you folks, my countrymen, down here in 
the extreme South is that you have been too exclusive and too 
hide-bound in your ideas for a full hundred years. What care 
you where a man comes from if he is a man? What you have 
needed above everything else down here in God's own country 
for a hundred years or more, is a lot of enterprising, go-ahead 
class of men; men with money, men of nerve, men of enterprise, 
men of sense and men who know how to do something and do 
it right. These are the sort of people you need to help you 
on in life. They are the kind of people who open coal mines 
and build mills and factories and furnaces and forges. What 
care you whence they came? I am glad to know that the most 
of you have quit fooling about these most important matters 
to your growth, development and prosperity. God Almighty 
intended the South-land to be the centre of practically all 
manufacturing for our great country. I say this with em- 



372 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



phasis, because he placed in this South-land the great bulk of 
the raw materials from which all finished products must evolve. 
What sense is there for you to ship your cotton, iron, coal and 
other products to the North or to England and pay your good 
money to their skilled laborers to work them into the finished 
products, and then buy back again these finished products, al- 
ways paying the manufacturer's prices? It seems to me that 
people — educated people — would not do anything of this sort. 
And yet you, and I may say, our Southern people generally 
have been doing this sort of foolish business for over a hundred 
years. Our West Virginia people, thank God, Mr. Chairman, 
have quit this sort of nonsense, and we have gone into business 
in dead earnest for ourselves, and we are beginning to reap, in 
a large degree, the benefits of our energy and our enterprise. 

Mr. Chairman, I cannot express myself more clearly upon this 
point at issue than by using a letter I wrote to your very effi- 
cient Secretary, Mr. N. F. Thompson, which letter bears date 
July 9, 1899. With } 7 our permission, sir, I will read this letter: 

"Charleston, West Ya., July 9, 1899. 
"N. F. Thompson, Esq., 

"Secretary Chamber of Commerce, 
"Huntsville, Alabama. 

"Dear Sir:— 

"I have before me your letter of July 3rd, calling my atten- 
tion to the fact of an industrial convention to be held at Hunts- 
ville, Monday, September 4th, next, and inviting me to be pres- 
ent. Being a Southern man myself, both by birth and educa- 
tion, it is needless for me to say that I am in deep sympathy 
with any movement that will advance the industrial progress 
of the entire South. I have always held that the South should 
be, and will be, the main manufacturing section of our great 
Republic. I have adhered to this idea because of the fact that 
the raw materials are found in the South, and a wise Prov- 
idence certainly intended that manufacturing should be con- 
ducted where the raw material exists. If the South, years ago, 
had taken up this question in its proper light, and had under- 
taken to manufacture its raw material on its own soil, em- 
ploying its own labor and thus keeping its own money for dis- 
tribution in its owns territory, it would have been far in ad- 
vance of what it now is. 

"I am glad to know, however, that within the last few years 



Southern Industrial Convention. 



373 



it has abandoned its former custom of shipping its raw mate- 
rial to Northern sections where it was manufactured, and then 
purchasing the finished products, paying the manufacturer's 
prices for the same, and has at last gone to work doing its own 
manufacturing. The South has the advantage of the Northern 
States in coal, soil and climate, as well as in other natural re- 
sources; therefore, if proper enterprise be shown by our South- 
ern people, they will transfer during the next generation prac- 
tically all of the manufacturing establishments from the North- 
ern and Central portions of the Republic to the Southland, 
where they ought to have been for a hundred years. 

"I have spoken my views briefly upon this subject, and in 
plain language, because I am interested in the development and 
advancement of the South, and ha\ e done my utmost for more 
than a quarter of a century to help my own people along in 
life. I trust that this industrial gathering of our Southern 
people at Huntsville will give a fresh impetus to Southern de- 
velopment, and that it will largely be attended by our repre- 
sentative people." 

The wealth of our country, my fellow citizens, is becoming 
colossal; but as it has, in most cases, only been the reward of 
industry and enterprise, it can neither demoralize its possessors 
nor the people at large. The field of gain is so vast and varied 
that the mass of the plain people have shared and are now 
sharing in its abundance. Our prosperity as a Nation is not 
accidental. It is not merely a phase of the remarkable devel- 
opment of a remarkable age. On the contrary, it is the out- 
growth of the enterprise, genius and pluck of our citizens. 
What we, as Southern people, should strive for is to share prop- 
erly in this wonderful development and growth. 

American history, Mr. President, has been a lesson as well as 
an inspiration to me. New England made the "New South" 
possible, just as Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and Persia made 
Greece and Rome possible. The North and the East have the 
lakes, the grit and the money; the two extremes of the Nation 
each has an Ocean; and the Middle and the Southern States 
have the great rivers which flow southward to the Gulf. The 
Mississippi basin is the heart of the Continent and the granary 
of the Nation, and it will some day be the most populous por- 
tion of the Republic, and its shipping will be all, or nearly all, 
across the Mexican Gulf. There is no guess work about this. 



374 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



In the fullness of time it will come; and if we leap upon the tide, 
we will share in the profits and the glories that will follow. 

Mr. Chairman, T see great growth and development through- 
out the South in the near future. The North cannot keep pace 
with us in the production of cotton and iron, and they are the 
two main products of the country. We already have the great 
waterways to the sea, and the railroads are coming slowly and 
surely. The best harbors of the land are along Southern bor- 
ders. The Nicaraugua canal is a fixed fact, and when com- 
pleted, heavy freights must pass down the Ohio and Mississippi 
rivers to the Gulf and thence across the isthmus to the broad, 
blue Pacific Ocean. The laps of the West, the populous pro- 
ductive Central States and the States of the South all lie to- 
gether. For generations New York and New England have 
conducted eight-tenths of American shipping. The large west- 
ern and central cities have poured their surplus products into 
Northern and Eastern markets. All this trade should go South- 
ward, because that is the natural outlet to the sea. This 
traffic is pointing Southward now as our trade with the Central 
and South American Republics is increasing. By and by those 
Southern sister Republics will become customers for the great 
bulk of our surplus manufactured products, and all, or nearly 
all, of the shipments will be made through Southern ports. 
And when the Nicaraugua canal is completed, the millenium 
will have dawned on our people, and the South will then blos- 
som as the rose. (Applause.) 



THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION. 

In accordance with a time-honored custom, and one worthy 
to be continued in all civilized lands, I hereby set apart 

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1899, 

as a day of Thanksgiving, praise and prayer to Almighty God 
for His mercy and goodness to the people of our State and 
Country; and I request that this day may be observed as such 
by a cessation from all business vocations and by public gath- 
erings in consecrated places, in order that God may be glorified 



Thanksgiving Proclamation. 



375 



for the bountiful blessings He has bestowed upon all of our 
people. 

"It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing 
praises unto thy name, most High." Psalm 92 : 1. 

"Then they took away the stone * * * * and Jesus lifted 
up his eyes, and said, Father I thank thee that thou hast heard 
me." John 11:41. 

"And when these living creatures give glory and honor and 
thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth forever and 
ever." Rev. 4:9. 

"Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor 
and power and might, be unto our God forever and ever." Rev. 
7:12. 

"Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the 
most High. ' ' Psalm 50 : 14. 

"First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that 
your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. Rom. 1 : 8. 

"And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name 
of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the father by 
him." Col. 3:17. 

"By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God 
continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his 
name." Hebrews 13 : 15. 

"Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Fa- 
ther in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Eph. 5 : 20. 

"I will give thanks in the great congregation: I will praise 
thee among much people. Psalm 35 : 18. 

"In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in 
Christ Jesus concerning you." /. Thess. 5 : 18. 

"So stood the two companies of them that gave thanks in 
the house of God, and I, and the half of the rulers with me." 
Neh. 12:40. 

"Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in 
my prayers." Eph. 1 : 16. 

"We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention 
of you in our prayers." /. Thess. 1:2. 

"Sing unto the Lord, ye saints of his, and give thanks at 
the remembrance of his holiness." Psalm 30 : 4. 

"Rejoice in the Lord ye righteous; and give thanks at the re- 
membrance of his holiness." Psalm 97 : 12. 



376 Public Addresses, &c., or Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



"Praise ye the Lord, O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is 
good; for his mercy endureth forever." Psalm 106 : 1. 

"0 give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy 
endurefth forever." Psalm 107 : 1; also Psalm 136 : 1-3. 

"We give thanks to thee, Lord God Almighty, which art, 
and wast, and are to come, because thou hast taken to thee 
thy great power, and hast reigned." Rev. 11 : 17. 

"I thank thee and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who 
hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto 
me now what we desired of thee." Daniel 2 : 23. 

"He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and 
he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard 
it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God 
thanks." Romans 14 : 6. 

"I exhort therefore that first of all, supplication, prayers, in- 
tercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men." /. 
Tim. 2 :1. 

"I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure 
conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee 
in my prayers night and day." IT. Tim. 1:2. 

"I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify 
him with thanksgiving." Psalm 69:30; also Psalm 95 in its 
entirety. 

"And to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, 
and likewise at even.'*' J. Chron. 13 : 30; also 29 : 6-14. 



[seal.] 



Given under my hand and the Great Seal of 
the State, at the City of Charleston, this 
Thirtieth day of October in the year of Our 
Lord Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-nine and 
the thirty-seventh year of the State. 




By the Governor: 




Secretary of State. 



On the Death of Dr. A. M. Evans. 



377 



REMARKS 

of Governor G. W. Atkinson, Relative to Death of Dr. A. M. 
Evans, of Halltown, W. Va., Before the Grand 
Lodge of Free Masons, 



November 14, 1899. 



Bro. Past Grand Master Evans is dead. We knew him in life. 
We mourn because of his death. As a Mason he stood among 
his fellows as a bright example of the teachings of our Institu- 
tion, and was in his daily walk a living embodiment of the vir- 
tues that it inculcated. His loss is universally mourned by all 
who knew him in life. All of us who knew him personally loved 
him because we knew him well. His sun went down just after 
it reached the horizon and began receding toward the West. 
It settled beyond the western hills, and darkness fell upon many 
lonely and loving hearts. It was God's will, not ours, that his 
sun should set before due evening-tide had come. He could not 
prevent its setting. We could not prevent it. All we could do w T as 
to stand and watch. We stood and the light went out, and we 
were left in darkness and in gloom. We believe a new and better 
sun arose beyond the setting of this earthly life. But of its brill- 
iancy we can not speak. As Masons, we believe that there is a 
better and a purer world beyond. We believe in the Father- 
hood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. We believe that 
in the dim hereafter, there is an everlasting summer-land of 
song. The flowers come and bloom and wither and die, and in 
the spring-time they come and bloom again; therefore "Death 
does not end all." We see through a glass darkly, but in the 
dim beyond we see the true, loving hearts meeting and greeting 
"where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at 
rest." 

We believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the 
Holy Ghost. The profane may laugh at this doctrine, but our 
Order teaches that it is true. "The fool may say in his heart, 
there is no God," but men of sense; men who have studied Di- 
vine Revelation; men who have thought; men who have inves- 



378 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



tigated Nature; men who look forward and not backward, say 
that it is absolutely a fact. 

One may look at a watch, and with as much propriet}^ say 
there is no watch-maker, as to look at the myriads of worlds 
around us, and say there is no Avorld-maker. My brothers, 
there is a God. There is an eternity. There is a heaven. We 
are but sojourners here. Life is but a bubble upon the waves. 
We see it for a moment and it is gone. We look and wonder 
and are lost in the mystery of what is and what is yet to come. 
We stand upon a summit and we look out into the future and 
are amazed at the emptiness of vision. As we thus stand, the 
clouds lower and we see no more. Faith enters and points out 
the way. God rises in the distance and says "I am the way." 
We look up and behold the "Tree of Life" dimly but surely in 
the distance. The gloom rises, and if we have true faith, we 
"Look and live."' 

Our departed brother was a man of faith. He was respected 
by his neighbors and was beloved by all. Cha.rming in his man- 
ner and ways, every acquaintance became a friend, and every 
friend deplores his loss. 

His funeral was held in the retired, unpretentious town where 
he had lived and toiled so long, and his numerous neighbors 
and friends threw upon his bier a flower of gratitude and love. 

So the watching is ended at home; 

Yet a whisper of peace 

Bids the flowing tears cease, 
For to wait and to toil — yea, to toil and to wait, 
Is Earth's passport to Rest within Heaven's fair Gate. 

The sun of our Brother Evans has forever set behind the hori- 
zon of our view, but the memory of his just, virtuous and up- 
right life will linger as a beautiful twilight in the memories of 
all who knew him. 



Peace to his ashes. 
Rest to his soul. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



379 



REMARKS 

of Governor G. W. Atkinson, of West Virginia,, Past Grand 
Master, and now Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge 
of West Virginia, at a Masonic Banquet, in the 
City of Washington, at the 100th Cele- 
bration of the Death of President 
Washington, who was a 
distinguished Free- 
mason. 



December 14, 1899. 



Mr. Toastmaster and Brethren:— 

This is perhaps the largest and most important gathering of 
Freemasons that the world has any record of. Indeed, I may 
say that it is the first assembly of the kind ever held on this 
Continent, or, for that matter, upon any other. The occasion 
therefore is an auspicious one, and will go into Masonic history 
as perhaps the most important, and certainly the most con- 
spicuous our great country has ever witnessed. 

West Virginia Masons congratulate the Mother State over 
the splendid results of our assembling together to-day on Vir- 
ginia soil, with representatives of the time-honored Order of 
Freemasons from every section of the Great Republic. West 
Virginia Masons are all the more gratified, because of the fact 
that we have with us two of the near relatives and descendants 
of the late President Washington whom we have sought to 
honor by the great Masonic gathering of to-day. I refer to 
Brothers Bushrod C. and George Washington, who are present 
upon this floor, and both of whom are distinguished citizens of 
the State of West Virginia, and members of our Fraternity. 

My brethren, the United States has been and is prolific of dis- 
tinguished men. She is the mother of the minute men of free- 
dom, and the reliable men of statesmanship. The names of 
many of them are household words, and they will remain such 
for centuries to come, and perhaps forever. But, my brethren, 
it makes no difference how tall the shafts upon which the names 



380 Public Addresses. &c. } of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



of these statesmen and patriots may be carved by an admiring 
and liberty-loving people, the names of two will ever stand pre- 
eminently above all the rest — Washington and Lincoln. 

Distinct as they were individually and widely differing in al- 
most all their characteristics, they will ever represent the high- 
est types of American manhood. Widely differing in nearly 
every other respect, yet they were the same in that broad hu- 
manity, that sterling patriotism, that serene uprightness of 
character which underlie the true elements of genuine American 
manhood. 

In Washington, my friends, we have the man of education, 
the scion of an aristocratic and noted household, reared in an 
atmosphere of monarchical ideas and predilections; all of which 
however he was able to cast aside, and thus sacrifice opportuni- 
ties for preferment, that he might engage in an apparently 
hopeless effort for the freedom of his countrymen. He risked 
his all to see the Nation established. And like Lord Nelson at 
Trafalgar, he won; but he won more than a peerage, or a grave 
at Westminster Abbey, — he won forever the title, "First in war, 
first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."' 

My brethren, as long as the Nation endures, as long as the 
fire of patriotism burns in the breasts of true Americans, the 
name of Worshipful Brother George Washington, a Mason in 
whom there was no guile, will ever be characterized as the 
founder and maker of the greatest government and Nation be- 
neath the stars; and will also be forever ranked as her foremost 
son. 

One hundred years ago George Washington, that patriot of 
patriots, breathed his last, and the centenary of that event was 
solemnly celebrated throughout the length and breadth of the 
land to-day. If it were possible for the "Father of his Coun- 
try" to revisit us he would be greatly astounded at the progress 
of the Nation of which he was the inspiration, and whose gen- 
ius nursed it through a stormy infancy. He would find in these 
days of remarkable things that no greater advancement has 
been made than in the science of medicine; that in these days 
the only bleeding done by physicians is of the pocket-book of 
the patient, but that they, however, do not rob a man in his 
sixty-eighth year of eighty-two ounces of blood, or above two 
and a half quarts of the vital fluid, for an inflammatory af- 
fection of the upper part of the wind-pipe, This treatment to 



George Washington. 



381 



which Washington was subjected aroused a great deal of dis- 
cussion among the medical faculty of the time, some eminent 
physicians maintaining that the illustrious patient had simply 
been bled to death. But it is seldom that doctors do agree, and 
like discussions arose over the treatment of the lamented Gar- 
field when medical science was far and away in advance of the 
primitive methods of Washington's day and generation. 

It took four days for the news of the death of our first Presi- 
dent to reach Congress, in session at Philadelphia, intelligence 
which could now be transmitted in as many seconds. The won- 
ders of time are marvelous, but certainly all surprises have been 
eclipsed by the strides the country has made since Washington 
was laid to his final rest at Mt. Yernon. That he has lived in 
the warm regard and first affections of a nervous, energetic 
and advancing people is evidence of the immortality of his 
fame. And to-day, as it did one hundred years ago, in the lan- 
guage of President Adams, who transmitted the news of his 
deatli to Congress, "it remains for an affectionate and grateful 
people, in whose hearts he can never die, to pay suitable honors 
to his memory." 

Brethren, as my closing remark in this splendid presence to- 
night, let me add what I believe to be true, and that is, that 
the name of George Washington, in the affections and devotion 
of the American people, towers above all others as yonder mon- 
ument, erected to his memory, rises grandly above the founda- 
tions upon which it stands. 



382 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



DEDICATION OF ODD FELLOWS TEMPLE. 

Address of Governor G. W. Atkinson, Past Grand, at Dedica- 
tion of New Odd Fellows Temple, Morgantown, W. Va. 

Members of the Independent Order of Odd Felloays, La- 
dies and Gentlemen: — 

My text to-day is, "Behold how good and how pleasant it is 
for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious 
ointment on the head, that ran down upon the beard, even 
Aaron's beard. That went down to the skirts of his garment. 
As the dew of Hermon and the dew that descended upon the 
mountain of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing, 
even life forever more." 

As to the exact location of the text, I am as much at sea as 
an old colored preacher I once read of, who after announcing his 
subject, said: "Brethering, you will find the text somewhar be- 
twixt de fust chapter of Generations and de last chapter of 
Revolutions; and I think you will find it over dar in de Bible 
whar de Postle Paul pinted his pistol at de Canadians." (Loud 
laughter.) 

Brotherhood, my friends, is Fraternity, and Fraternity is the 
unity of purpose and the unity of action. I heartily endorse all 
Fraternal organizations, and I endorse the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows especially, because it is one of the oldest and the 
largest and the best of all the benevolent secret societies of the 
world. It is secret only in so far as its inward workings are con- 
cerned, but it is open and public in all that it does for the bet- 
terment of society and the uplifting of the human race. (Ap- 
plause.) 

All Fraternal societies, in my judgment, have been a blessing 
to the countries that fostered them. They promote thrift, econ- 
omy, sobriety, intelligence, manliness. They teach men to 
think, to reason, to create sympathy for one another, and above 
all, they teach charity and mercy. True religion — or at least 
the big human end of religion— is to give bread to the hungry, 
water to the thirsty, to visit the sick, to comfort the dying, and 
to shelter the widow and the orphan. This great organization 



Dedication of Odd Fellows Temple. 



383 



teaches all of these principles; and I want to tell you, my friends, 
so long as it adheres strictly to these tenets, it will keep on liv- 
ing and growing greater and more useful as it grows older 
in years. (Applause.) 

Co-operation, my brethren, is a modern method of achieving 
great results. One man can do but little if he work alone. Many 
persons by combining and working together in a common cause 
and toward a common end can achieve wonders. I have read 
history backwards, if I have not learned that those Nations 
which encouraged co-operation are always the greatest Nations. 
Indeed, it cannot be denied that co-operation is the most poten- 
tial lever for general usefulness of the times in which we live. 
The great empires were made by the uniting of Dominions and 
States which possessed a common interest and a common pur- 
pose. By thus uniting they became invincible and thus com- 
manded the respect, not to say fear, of the great Powers that 
surrounded them. The experiences of all the ages, therefore, 
justify the statement that "in unity there is strength." In ver- 
ification of this statement, I am going to relate a dream: 

I thought I was at sea, saw a great commotion, and heard 
many voices high and loud. It was a conference of the waves. 
Listening, I heard one wave say, "See that great city yonder 
with her massive buildings, tall spires and minarets. That is 
New York, the metropolis of the Republic of the United States, 
the greatest, grandest, freest, richest government beneath the 
stars. (Cheers.) Let us inundate that city and we inundate 
the States; say shall it be done," and there followed a big swell 
which I interpreted as saying, "It shall be done," and I trem- 
bled for my country and my people. But a lull succeeded 
it, and in its quiet I heard a modest voice say, "Under pres- 
ent circumstances it is impossible. Along the coast at the 
base of that mightj^ city, there are millions upon millions 
of little grains of sand, tiny and weak apart from one anoth- 
er, but massive and strong w T hen united, as they now are, 
and while that remains, the thing is not only impracticable, 
but absolutely impossible; divide those grains of sand and 
your work is done." Blue with anger and foaming in pas- 
sion, the leader leaped upon the back of the tide, while the 
the winds gave martial music, and with a voice like that of 
thunder, cried, "We avenge the insult. On! on!!" And on they 
went toward the shore; and as I saw it in my dream, the march 



384 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



was grand— awfully grand. Nothing daunted, the sands kept 
close, compact, united. The waves dashed on, foaming, seeth- 
ing, roaring, cloud-clapped and sparkling in the sunlight. On 
and on they rolled with mighty fury, but when they struck the 
beach— that mighty breast-work of pebbles and sand— they 
broke into fragments and were as powerless as the grave. In 
delight I shouted, victory! a city saved! thank God in union 
there is strength! I awoke from my dream and found it was so. 
Yes, brethren, in union there is strength, and all the world 
knows it, the waves of the sea, Odd Fellowship, and the little 
grains of sand teach it. It has been so from the time that Ad- 
am left the Garden of Eden with his shovel and his hoe, and will 
remain such until time shall cease to be. (Applause.) 

My brethren, Ave have to-day dedicated a temple, which is in 
ever3 r respect a credit to this growing, progressive city, and to 
this progressive Order also. With pride we remember to-day 
that the founders of this world-famed Fraternity themselves 
builded a Temple. Not one, however, like the edifice which this 
Grand Lodge has dedicated to-day, an edifice of stone and 
brick and mortar and wood, but a magnificent Temple, whose 
foundation is Friendship, Love and Truth, whose massive walls 
encompass the e*arth and embrace all nations and creeds, and 
teach all classes everywhere to be honest, upright, just and 
true. Not by piling up pyramids of stone or brick walls that 
tower skyward in God's bright sunlight, wherein tyrants or im- 
posters or great rulers may at last as embalmed mummies 
sleep, or palaces wherein luxury and licentiousness may revel 
and rule; but an edifice of Charity and Love wherein the sor- 
rowing are comforted and broken-hearts are mended and the 
needy are relieved. (Loud applause.) 

Wise men of all ages class experience as a dear teacher, but 
not so when it teaches Truth. Time is known as a great leveler, 
but its value is incalculable if it levels men up instead of down. 
As the years roll by, they drop blessings as well as burdens, du- 
ties as well as honors, dignities as well as experience. They may 
perchance dampen youthful ardor, yet they bestow a silver 
crown. While they may perhaps subdue the fire of ambitious 
manhood, they nevertheless develop the elements of wisdom. 
Odd Fellowship is guided in its march onward by the lamp of 
experience; and while it glories in its past record, it lives in the 
present, and strives for greater conquests in the years that are 
to come. (Applause.) 



Dedication of Odd Fellows Temple. 385 



Man. my friends, is a social being, who clings to the good 
opinion and the kindly wishes of his kind, and loves the com- 
mon ties which bind him to his associates and friends. If truly 
wise, he profits by experience as he is refined by associations. 
If he is a true man, he becomes better as he grows wiser and 
up-lifts society as he broadens his own sphere of manhood by 
doing good to others. 

Truth is an abiding tenet of this great Order. It is the golden 
cord which unites man to God, and the silver thread that binds 
man securely to his brother. A golden chain between man and 
God— a silver one between man and man. This is a symbol of 
Fraternity; and Fraternity called us together to-day. Frater- 
nity laid the corner-stone, fraternity erected the building there- 
on, and fraternity to-day has solemnly dedicated this splendid 
edifice to Friendship, Love and Truth. (Applause.) 

Civilization, my brethren, was born in Asia, was cradled in 
Europe, and grew to manhood in America. Benevolence moves 
hand in hand with civilization, but it develops fastest under a 
free sky. Where every one owns himself men are most con- 
cerned about the welfare of others. Cha ity flourishes fastest 
w r hen warmed by the air of liberty. (Applause.) It is deepest 
rooted where the masses are in touch with one another. Thus 
men are made true Odd Fellows by one ai other. The touch of 
elbows in a noble cause makes an irres stible, unconquerable 
army; and such an army is this noble Ord er to which we belong 
to-day. (Applause.) 

I am proud to associate with such a bo ly of men as these be- 
fore me to-day, when I look at the genei osity of Odd Fellow- 
ship. This Society is founded upon God's law, and yet it is not 
a religious society. Neither is it a politi :al organization nor 
party. It is not of any Church sect. It stands out upon the 
high level where Jew and Gentile can clasp hands and hold one 
another up. Under its broad shield, all true men can meet and 
act in the one grand object to make the world cleaner, and 
sweeter, and happier and better. (Applause). 

My brethren, three things develop true manhood, viz: Right, 
courage, charity. To be right is to be truly great. To be 
courageous is to be right and stand by it, and to be charitable 
is to exemplify in kindly acts the big human end of religion, 
which is to do unto others as you would have them do unto 
you. These three elements have made Odd Fellowship w T onder- 



386 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



ful and great; and so long as it adheres to these great prin- 
ciples, it will always be strong and noble and great and good. 
(Cheers.) 

My fellow citizens, I have said that this Order is not a relig- 
ious society, but it is nevertheless in a sense an auxiliary of the 
Church of the Christ. Odd Fellowship operates on the moral 
natures of men, while the Church operates on both their moral 
and spiritual natures. Morality is not religion. Both of these 
great organizations, however, are in perfect harmony in the 
one great object and purpose of lifting humanity upward to a 
higher plane of intelligence and usefulness. (Applause.) 

Uniforms and guns and swords and cannons do not made sol- 
diers. Soldiers, on the contrary, are made by the services they 
render on the march and in the brunt of battle. Real men do 
not grow on parlor carpets any more than trees grow in hot 
beds. Real men are made by coming in contact with their fel- 
low men, just as trees are made to take deeper root and stand 
all the firmer by the storms that beat against them. Odd 
Fellows are not made by the uniforms and jewels they wear, 
bat by the cleanness of their lives and the exemplification in 
their daily avocations of the principles of virtue and morality 
which they profess and which the Order teaches and requires at 
their hands. The tap-root of Odd-Fellowship is benevolence, 
charity, morality, just as the tap-root of the Church is a vivid 
apprehension of the great revealed truths about accountability 
redemption, heaven, hell, immortality, eternity, which beat 
constantly about one's conscience like a shoreless ocean of fire. 
(Applause.) Therefore, my friends, I declare to-day that this 
Order is not one of show and display and thoughtless aim only, 
but one concerned solely for the good of mankind and the bet- 
tering of the world. The building that stands upon this solid 
foundation which this Grand Lodge has dedicated to-day, is 
only an outward exemplification of an inward principle, just 
as the Church edifice is the outward semblance of the great 
principles of salvation and love upon which it stands. Build- 
ings and regalia and men are not Odd-Fellowship any more 
than brick walls and pews and men and women are the Church. 
These are only incidents and factors of Odd-Fellowship and the 
Church. The doctrines they teach, and the principles and truths 
upon which they stand, constitute their real essence. The build- 
ings and members are only the shadow, while what they have 



Dedication of Odd Fellows Temple. 



387 



done and are doing are the substance, or the real thing itself. 
(Applause.) 

Brethren, we are progressing. This is a marvelous age. The 
world is going forward at a rapid rate, and I speak the truth 
when I say this grand, old Order is abreast of the procession. 
(Applause.) When Gibbon closed his discussion of the reign of 
Marcus Aurelius, he said the second century was the happiest 
period of the world. That century, I grant, was a climax of 
progress, but it is totally eclipsed by the closiug decade of our 
19th century, because the bow of universal progress arches 
every sky. The legions of almost forgotten monarchs, like 
Marcus Aurelius, who ruled and ruined before this Order was 
founded, are sleeping beneath the tread of freedom's hosts, and 
on every sepulchre of history are strewn the ashes from the 
camp-fires of the army of progress. (Applause.) Over the relics 
of ignorance, on all sides and everywhere, the freemen of to-day 
are building stately homes, and are lifting mankind to a higher 
ideal of life and destiny. And in this great work, Odd-Fellow- 
ship is doing its full duty. (Loud cheers.) 

It is said that Plato, the great Greek philosopher, in his pas- 
sionate love for mathematics, inscribed over the entrance to 
his studio the words: "Let no one enter here who is not a lover 
of geometry." Odd Fellowship, through all the years of its his- 
tory, has embelished in words of shining gold, over the portals 
of its every edifice, "Let no one enter here who is not a lover of 
his fellow man." 

The beautiful melody of the Orientalist vibrates a responsive 
chord of Odd Fellowship: — 

"Abon Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase) 
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace, 

And saw within the moonlight in his room, 

Making- it rich and like a lily in bloom, 
An angel writing in a book of gold; 
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold, 

And to the presence in the room he said: 

'What writest thou?' — the vision raised its head, 
And with a look made of all sweet accord 
Answered: 'The names of those who love the Lord,' 

'And is mine one?' said Abou: 'Nay not so,' 

Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low, 
But cheerily still; and said: ,1 pray thee then, 
Write me as one who loves his fellow-men,' 

The angel wrote and vanished. The next night 

It came again, with a great awakening light, 
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed, 
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest." (Applause." 



388 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



My brethren and friends, while human S3 T mpathy endures Odd 
Fellowship will last. There is nothing more powerful than 
sympathy. It was the great, deep vein of sympathy that per- 
meates all of Shakspeare's poems which gave him his marvel- 
ous grip upon all the ages. By it he puts his great arms 
around all the people and lifts them to a higher plane of living 
and a loftier conception of life. By it at last the weaknesses of 
all will finally be overcome, and all men will be raised to a high- 
er and happier life. All hail! we look into the future and wel- 
come the coming of the morn, radiant and effulgent, when the 
waves of the sea will oecome the crystal cords of a grand organ 
on which the fingers of everlasting love will peal the grand 
chorus of a world regenerated and redeemed. (Prolonged 
cheers). 



PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDING CORNER- 
STONE. 

Remarks of Governor Atkinson at the Laying of the Corner- 
Stone of a Public School Building at Moundsville, W. Va. 



Ladies and Gentlemen:— 

The Masonic fraternity has laid more corner-stones of public 
buildings than all other societies combined. It laid the corner- 
stone of its own great edifice before the beginning of the Chris- 
tian era, and all along the ages, in all countries and among all 
peoples, one of its chief occupations has been to lay, in accor- 
dance with its beautiful ceremonial rites, the corner-stones of 
school buildings, churches and the like. It is meet, therefore 
that it should engage in this laudable work, because of its high 
ideal of morals, and because it teaches peace and good will 
among men. 

After the able and elaborate address of my friend and brother, 
Col. Rob't. White, who preceeded me, it will be out of place for 
me to say but little on this important occasion. This great 
audience is proof of the fact that the residents of this city, with- 



Public School Building Corner Stone. 389 



out regard to class or condition, are in hearty sympathy with 
our Public School system — a system which has done so much in 
enlightening the minds of the youth of the State. I am ground- 
ed, my friends, in the belief that the hope of the future is the 
Public School of to-day. It is the corner-stone of patriotism 
and the bullvvark of American freedom. The degree reached by 
the general education of the masses will gauge the degree of the 
civilization of our State. It cannot be denied that education 
has ever been the actual measure of human progress in all ages 
and in all lands. Education, therefore, not only brings intel- 
lectual development in its wake, but it is money saved to the 
State in suppressing disobedience to law. Educated people are 
tractable and easily controlled, and this is a potent reason why 
a general system of education should be fostered by the State. 
He therefore who does not stand at all times by our Common 
Schools, is neither loyal to himself nor to his common country. 

The building which is to be erected upon this foundation is to 
be Moundsville's home for the education of its youth. Light 
and knowledge will go out therefrom for generations in the fu- 
ture. When this building becomes indifferent from age or insuf- 
ficient for the needs of the city, another and better one will be 
erected in its stead. The investment made by the citizens of 
Moundsville in constructing this edifice is not only an invest- 
ment for the present, but for the future also. But few of this 
vast throng will be pupils in this school building, but their 
children and their children's children will; and how thankful 
these young people ought to be for the improved educational 
advantages which they possess. If they could only contrast 
these modern school houses with the buildings in which their 
fathers received their education, they could more fully appreci- 
ate the fact that they are living in an advanced age— an age of 
higher and nobler civilization. The world is moving forward, 
and much of our progress is due to our efficient system of pub- 
lic education of the masses. I rejoice with you to-day that our 
public schools are on a rising tide. Speed the day when they 
will be nearer perfect in all respects than they now are as the 
nineteenth century is disappearing behind the western hills, and 
the twentieth is dawning in the east. (Applause.) 

A word or two, in conclusion, to these ladies who have hon- 
ored us with their presence here to-day. I am sorry we cannot 
make Free Masons of them; but we can't do that. (Laugh- 



390 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G-. W. Atkinson. 



ter.) They, however, are our half-sisters, and we hail them as 
such. Although we have seen fit not to admit them into our 
fraternity, we are willing to acknowledge that they, as a rule, 
are better than the men. A beautiful, chaste woman is the per- 
fect workmanship of God, the true glory of angels, the rare 
miracle of earth, and the sole wonder of the world. (Loud ap- 
plause.) 

Cato, the Censor, and Hyppolitis hated women, and the world 
hated them. Women decide and fix the morals of all countries. 
They reign supreme, because they hold possession of men's pas- 
sions. The world has always graded civilization by the devel- 
opment of womanhood, and it always will. Women modify 
and soften the natures of men by gentleness, affection and love. 
(Applause.) 

Washington Irving aptly said, "As the vine twines around 
the oak and binds its wounds when rifted b}^ the blast of light- 
ning, so woman twines about man, as a comfort and solace, 
when the dark clouds gather over his home and blast his life 
and expectations." 

A French proverb says: "A woman's tongue is her sword, and 
she never lets it rust." (Laughter.) I will wager a farthing 
that the fellow who wrote that proverb or saying, was a pigeon- 
liveredold bachelor. (Loud laughter.) An Arab pro A'erb says, 
"What a woman wills, God wills." That Arab was nearer right 
than the Frenchman, from whom I quoted. (Applause.) 

My friends, do not misunderstand me. I am not in favor of 
woman's suffrage, nor am I a friend of the so-called "new wo- 
man." I am in favor of real womanhood, because that is 
right — forever right; but I am opposed to the isms and nonsense 
of the new-fangled notions of some of our modern women, be- 
cause to my mind, they are wrong — forever wrong. I believe in 
the dignity and grandeur of genuine womanhood, and have in- 
variably stood for that principle among my fellow men; but I 
declare to you, in this presence, that I would rather be a dog 
and bay the moon, or a kitten and cry mew, than to raise my 
voice for crankisms of any kind, and especially the crankisms 
of the alleged new woman. (Applause.) A woman is a queen 
when she reigns as such, but when she gets out of her sphere, 
she is not as good as a man. I had rather associate with an 
old bachelor with a hob-nail liver than one of these new women 
dressed in men's attire. (Loud laughter.) A. teacher one day 



Public School Building Corner Stone. 391 



asked a class of beginners in the study of English grammar, 
how many genders there are? A bright boy answered prompt- 
ly, "Three: masculine, feminine and the new woman." (Loud 
laughter. ) 

I delight to see women assert themselves in all the walks of 
life. When they do a man's work, they are entitled to a man's 
pay. I believe in all that. An old sailor's wife interpreted her 
marriage contract in this way: "My husband and I are one, 
and I am the one." (Laughter). I do not object so much to 
those kind of women, and we know that they are quite numer- 
ous,— perhaps as numerous as "the leaves that strewed the 
brooks in Valambrosa." (Laughter). It is the "new woman" 
that I am standing out against. (Cheers). Still, they are not 
very numerous, and I am delighted to know that their number 
is growing beautifully less every day. (Applause). The fad 
will very soon fade away, and there will still remain the God 
given womanly woman, who will continue to rule the man in 
the future as she has done in the past, in such a way that al- 
though she leads him, yet he hasn't sense enough to find it out. 
(Loud laughter). That is the woman of the past, the woman 
of the present, and the woman of the future,— the kind of a wo- 
man whom a sensible man will respect, honor and love. 

When a man sees no way out of a difficulty there is always a 
woman's way. (Laughter). 

A woman can achieve more by ten minutes of gentleness than 
a man can by an hour of violent bluster. 

A man seeks and demands a woman's first love. A woman 
feels most secure when she feels that she has a man's last love. 
(Laughter). 

An honest avowal of love is always considered by a woman 
whether she reject or accept it, as the highest recognition of her 
womanhood. 

There may be nothing new under the sun. But there are 
many new things under the moon which we all pretend to see 
and which nothing would persuade us to speak of. (Laughter). 

The purest and best of women always show the deepest and 
tenderest compassion for their fallen sisters. For a woman to 
be without sympathy is to be a woman without the highest 
trait of womanhood. (Applause). 

I trust I will not be censured for reciting the following stanzas 
of doggerel which have somewhat of a bearing upon the subject 
at hand: 



392 Public Addresses, &c, of G-ov. (t. W. Atkinson. 



There are women who are comely, 
There are women who are homely, 

But be careful how the latter thing you say; 
There are women who are healthy, 
There are women who are wealthy, 

There are women who will always have their way. 

There are women who are truthful, 
There are women who are youthful, 

Was there ever any woman that was old? 
There are women who are sainted, 
There are women who are painted, 

There are women who are worth their weight In gold. 

There are women who are tender, 
There are women who are slender, 

There are women very large and fat and red; 
There are woman who are married. 
There women who have tarried, 

There are women who can't talk — but they are dead. 

(Prolonged laughter and applause). 



THE LEVEL AND THE SQUARE. 

Original Poem by Governor Atkinson, in Response to a Toast 
with above Title, at a, Masonic Banquet, Charieston, W. Ta. 



The Level's a jewel when it levels men up, 

But not so if it levels them down; 
And the Mason who levels his life by its gauge, 

Will be laureled at last with a Crown. 

But woe be the man who passes through life, 
On the level by most men that's trod; 

'Twere better, far better he'd ne'er been born. 
Or in Youth he'd been laid 'neath the sod. 

Our symbol — the Level — teaches plainly this truth: 
Men are equal when they all do the right: 

It exacts from us all. from old age down to youth, 
A pledge to be just, day and night. 

On the level of Truth we should walk as men true, 
Down the sweep of the years as they fly; 

Looking up, and not down, as Masons should do, 
To the mansions of rest in the sky. 

On the Level, at last, all Masons must meet. 
And surrender their trust to the Kinu r ; 

Though w r eary their limbs and tired their feet, 
To their Ancient, Grand Craft they should cling. 



Decoration Day Address. 



393 



But better than Level is the Right-angled Square, 
For it teacbes greater lessons than Love; 

By its angle, men's lives are tested as True, 
In this world and the Home that's above. 

Man's a man only, when Square in his acts, 

And is clean on the inside and out; 
In the quiet of home, he'll be honored alike, 

Or on tempest-tossed sea cast about 

As sweep the shot-stars adown the domed sky, 
Shine the lives of the men that are Square; 

Their deeds, when they're gone, will after them live, 
And their virtues be cherished as rare. 

Though fiery hos^s in their cycles may fly, 
Yet safe from the storm is the life that is Square; 

And beyond the nebulous field of the sky, 
Is his Home rich, beautiful and fair. 

We'll meet on the Level and act by the Square, 
As Masons we know it's our duty to do; 

And the world will be better and brighter and fair, 
Because we've lived in it, and journeyed life through. 



By Governor G. W. Atkinson at the National Cemetery at 
Grafton, West Virginia. 



Ladies and Gentlemen:— 

It was Prentiss, of Mississippi, who was among the most elo- 
quent of men in a Fourth of July oration, many years ago, 
who said, "My countrymen! I can stand by the far away Pe- 
nobscot and say my countrymen! I can stand by the rippling 
waters of Lake Erie and say my countrymen! I can stand un- 
der the shadows of the Rocky Mountains and say my country- 
men! And here by the 'father of waters' I can say my country- 
men! So say I to-day, standing here on the slopes of the Alle- 
ghanies beneath the shadows of these hills, rock-ribbed and 
towering in the sun-light, "my countrymen"! We are citizens of 
a common heritage,— a land united, girted, and sealed by the 
blood of the heroes who sleep beneath these green mounds in 
this, one of the neatest and sweetest of all of our National 
cemeteries. Our citizenship is not hemmed in by State lines. 




[From The Grafton Sentinel.] 



394 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



On the contrary, like our patriotism, it has the majestic sweep 
of the continent. (Cheers.) 

There are honors that are fleeting. Xerxes crowned his foot- 
man in the morning, and beheaded him in the evening of the 
same day. Andronicus, the Greek emperor, crowned his admi- 
ral in the morning and then took off his head in the afternoon. 
Koffensis had a Cardinal's hat sent to him, but his head was 
cut off before it came to hand. Most men in position and 
power in this world are pained to admit the truthfulness of 
the remark of a certain great king, "Oh, crown thou art more 
noble than happy!" But, my friends, there are honors which 
are enduring. There are laurels which never fade. There 
are monuments which the tooth of time cannot destroy. It 
is said that the crown of Ivan contains 841 diamonds; that 
the crown of Peter contains 887 diamonds; that the crown of 
England contains 1,700 diamons; that the imperial crown of 
Kussia contains 2,500 diamonds, and the crown of France con- 
tains 5,352 diamonds. But there are crowns that outshine all 
these. The laurel wreaths which are to-day entwined about the 
tombs of the heroes who sleep in these graves, represent hon- 
ors, reputation and fame, to us as Americans, more enduring 
than the diamond crowns of all the kings, princes and potent- 
ates of earth. (Loud cheering.) 

"Rest on embalmed and sainted dead, 

Dear as the blood you gave; 
No impious footsteps here shall tread 

The herbage of your grave." 

My countrymen, the men who sleep in the graves around us 
to-day are our Nation's wards. While America lives they will 
not be forgotten. When the May months come, with their 
charming green, their fragrant flowers, their singing birds, and 
their babbling brooks, they will ever bring together an admir- 
ing throng to do honor to our sleeping braves. No, my friends, 
our dead soldiers will not be forgotten. These States of ours 
may forget their law-makers, may forget their jurists, may for- 
get their orators, may forget their poets and their scholars, 
but they will never cease to cherish the memories of the men 
who died that the Government might live. We can never for- 
get the times when these men fell. (Applause.) Then it was 
that a deep fog hung low above our Nation's crest, and doubt 
in the minds of all dimmed and chilled the day; but an unf alter- 



Decoration Day Address. 



395 



ing love for the true and the good— a desire to perpetuate the 
homes of the free, under God, nourished a more intelligent and 
unquestioning faith in the stability of our Governmental insti- 
tutions. Rebellion died but the Nation lived. (Applause.) 

These soldiers came from every section of their country at 
their country's call, and 

Went forth to die- 
Pale, earnest thousands from the dizzy mills, 
And swnburnt thousands from the harvest hills; 
Quick, eager thousands from the city streets, 
And storm-tried thousands from the fishers' fleets. 

How they went forth to die — 
Heeding, yet shrinking not from the hot breath 
Of the fire angel in the front of death, 
Seeing afar yet meeting without fear 
The fever angel lurking in the rear. 

How they went forth to die — 
Counting their lives as the unvalued dust 
Trod by a Nation bearing on its trust, 
Content if but their sunken graves should be 
The foot prints of the progress of the free. 

As the years go on, my friends, animosities once cherished by 
the North against the South, and by the South against the 
North, are rapidly disappearing. There is now but little left 
of sectional sentiment alism. There should be buried in the 
same graves our passions with our dead. It is too late, in this 
age of progress and discovery, for one American to hate an- 
other. The past should be, and largely is forgotten in the 
hopes of the future. (Applause.) 

There is not one of us, wore he one cloth or the other, came 
he from the granite hills of new England or the orange groves 
of the Mississippi Valley, who has not an interest for himself 
and for his children in the preservation and perpetuation of 
our republican system. It is a reciprocal as well as a joint in- 
terest; and relating to the greatest of human affairs, it ought 
to be a sacred interest. The most obstinate of partisans, the 
most untraveled of provincials,, can not efface, still less dispute, 
the story of heroism in war, or moderation of peace, which, 
written in letters of living light, will blaze forever upon our Na- 
tional tablets. The occasion that brings us here has this sig- 
nificance: it is illustrative; it tells us that we have come to un- 
derstand that there could be no lasting peace, nor real republi- 
canism, whilst any freeman's rights was abridged or any pa- 



396 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



triot's grave, unhonored. The freedom of each and every 
State, of each and every citizen, is at length assured; and there 
remains no longer so much as a pretext why the glory of the 
past, marked by the graves of those who fell in battle, should 
not be the common property of the whole people. The old 
feudal ideas of treason do not belong to our institutions or our 
epoch. Their influence in public affairs have been hostile to our 
National unity and peace. Our future is to be secured by gen- 
erous concessions, for ours was a war of mistakes, not of dis- 
grace. (Applause.) 

At Vicksburg, but a year or two ago, the citizens, after deco- 
rating the graves of the Confederates buried in their beautiful 
cemetery, also scattered garlands of their choicest flowers upon 
the mounds of the thousands of the Union dead, who near by, 
beneath the evergreen magnolias, lie in the dreamless sleep of 
death. A lovely poem, written for the occasion, was read, from 
which I take the closing stanza: 

"Ours the fate of the vanquished. 

Whose heartaches never cease; 

Ours the tears, regrets and fears— 

Theirs the eternal peace. 

Anger they dropped forever 

With the passing burden of breath, 

The Blue and the Gray are alike to-day 

In the colorless land of death, 

And the living who wore the Blue 

May bring to the sleepers flowers, 

For the Blue and the Gray are friends to-day, 

In a happier land than ours." (Applause.) 

My friends, I know there are those w T ho ridicule this union of 
sentiment on Decoration Day. There are those every where who 
cannot take their neighbors by the hands and call them broth- 
ers. I know that there are among us certain of our countrymen 
whose skins fit their bodies so closely that they cannot breathe 
without pain. But I thank God to-day that the great bulk of 
humanity in our land are one in feeling and sentiment. The} T 
seem to understand somehow 7 that they are akin. They be- 
lieve in that broad fundamental Bible doctrine of the unity of 
God and the brotherhood of man; and about nine hundred and 
ninety nine out of every thousand of us accept the situation and 
spell nation with a big N. (Applause.) Sectionalism is being 
ushered out and Nationalism is being ushered in. We meet 
here to-day, not as partisans, but as Americans. We may quar- 
rel in our newspapers and during our political campaigns, Re- 



Decoration Day Address. 



397 



publicans with Democrats and Democrats with Kepublicans; but 
what of that? On the great question of liberty and union, we 
are one and inseparable. I hail the day as not far distant when 
no man can tell where the North ends or the South begins. (Ap- 
plause.) The blood of the soldiers who fell from '61 to '65 was 
the seed of a nobler National life, and a germ of fuller National 
glory. When Kichmond fell, the government of our fathers 
started on a new lease of life, which budding now will ultimately 
bloom as the greatest, grandest, noblest government of earth. 
"Oh, America, our native land! Land of invention and discov- 
ery, land of glorious mount and beautiful vale; for whom em- 
purpled hosts have fought and and poets sung; land of genius 
and of power; land of beauty and of song; land of golden past 
and boundless future; thou hast come forth from turmoil and 
from battle holding in thine arms of might, learning and thought, 
art and discovery, honor and justice, grouped like stars in a 
firmament which span man's home and grave." Land of Wash- 
ington, of Webster, of ('lay, of Lincoln, of Grant; in thy course 
along the track of time thou hast spread all about our pathway 
a glorious, imperishable radiance! Let the prayers of all in this 
presence be, that 

"No more shall the war-cry sever, 

Or the winding rivers be red; 
They banish our anger forever 

When they laurel the graves of our dead." 

Yonder floats aloft our National ensign. We reverence thee 
to-day, sweet stars and stripes. We reverence thee, because 
thou art the emblem of an undivided Nation. We reverence thee, 
because nowhere beneath thy folds can be found the footprint 
of a slave, We reverence thee, because on land and sea, above 
freedom's host, thou art freedom's flag. Hail! all hail! glor- 
ious banner of the free. Iliads more lasting than Homer's will 
yet be written which shall ring along the centuries to commem- 
orate the names and the fame of the men who gave up their lives 
for those stripes and stars. (Loud applause.) 

"Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea! 
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee, 
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears 
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, 

Are all with thee — are all with thee!" (Prolonged cheering.) 



398 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



THREE G'S— GRIT, GET, AND GUMPTION. 

An Address by Governor Atkinson before the Graduating Class 
of the Wheeling Business College. 



Mr. President, Young Ladies and Young Gentlemen:— 

I assure you that it is a great pleasure to speak to you to- 
night upon a subject of my own choosing. My theme is a 
homely one, but there is perhaps more in it than you may see 
at a glance or on first blush or thought. I believe it was Da- 
vid, the sweet singer of Israel, who gave utterance to the state- 
ment that "we are fearfully and wonderfully made," and I am 
inclined to the belief that he was correct in his statement. 
Whether we, in stature and intellectual make-up, are above or 
below the angels, we know not. We know, however, that we 
are above the lower animals, because we have intellect, sensibil- 
ity and will, while they are certainly not endowed with all of 
these faculties. We also differ from the lower animals in many 
other important respects. For instance, man is the only ani- 
mal who has a chin; and it is a painful admission, if we follow 
the language of the street, that he often uses it too much. 
Man is the only animal that is two-handed and two-footed. 
He is the only animal that walks erect; and yet we often see 
him so thoroughly under the influence of intoxicants that he 
cannot stand erect and look upon the stars, as his Creator in- 
tended him to do. Man is the only being that can laugh. No 
other animal can indulge in this delightful source of enjoyment; 
and yet perhaps the majority of us spend a large portion of our 
time in croaking and grumbling, instead of being joyful, happy 
and bright. Man is the only animal that shaves his face, or 
uses a razor with which to slash his fellow man. (Laughter.) 
He is the only being who wears clothing, or uses tools or ma- 
chinery of any character or kind. He is the only created being 
who possesses the capacity to benefit himself by the knowledge 
or experience of others; and yet thousands of them pass 
through life, and know comparatively nothing of what is going 
on around and about them. Man is the only being who has a 
moral nature, and yet many of them are wholly without mor- 



Three G's— Grit, Get, and Gumption. 



399 



als of any sort. He is the only being that can reason, and it is 
painfully true that not one in fifty ever even pretends to think 
for himself. He simply folds his hands, lies supinely on his 
back and allows someone else to do the thinking for him. (Ap- 
plause.) He also possesses a will, but rarely calls it into use. 
The most of us, in short, are only putty men and women, and 
we fail to leave our impress upon anything we touch. There- 
fore, when we pass on and over, failure is written upon our 
grave-stones; and that is the end, of us. 

Now, my young friends, what do all these things teach us? 
Being exalted by our Creator above all other creatures of his 
hand, we are capable of wonderful development and a high 
grade of usefulness. Man's powers of thought are simply amaz- 
ing. He ought to be, with the advantages he now possesses, 
an intellectual and moral giant. We are to-day standing upon 
the shoulders of our ancestors, and we ought to see farther 
than if we were standing upon the ground. But candidly, my 
young friends, how many of us are availing ourselves of all of 
the educational advantages which environ us to-day? And the 
same is true of the most of us in a moral and religious sense. 
The eccentric Sam. Joues was more than half correct when he 
said, and I think aptly, "that a lot of you little sinners are sit- 
ting around waiting for salvation to strike you as it did St. 
Paul. Snow-birds waiting to be hit with cannon balls. God 
adjusts his ammunition to the size of the man he is after. Mus- 
tard-seed shot will do for you. God won't keep a man sober 
who has a quart of liquor in him all the time. God won't keep 
a young lady pious w T ho has her waist encircled seven times a 
week by the arms of a spider-legged dude." (Loud laughter.) 

"We rise by the things that are under our feet; 
By what we have mastered of good or gain; 
By the pride disposed, and the passion slain, 
And the vanquished ills that we hourly meet." 

There are, my young friends, on the way through life, many 
things which we must avoid if we may hope for success; and 
there are many things we must do to prevent our lives from 
proving an utter failure. I will mention but three to-night 
along the line of this latter thought, to-wit: Grit, Get and 
Gumption, and to a few reflections on these three words, I be- 
speak your careful attention. 

A young man may be born of "blue blood," as they say down 



400 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



South, may have a great name, may have a gold spoon in his 
mouth, may have much of this world's goods and its jewels and 
its diamonds, still if he have not grit he will amount to noth- 
ing. Without it a young man may make a first class amber hued 
dude, but he can never make a book-keeper or a scholar. With- 
out it he may become proficient in street talk and develop into 
a faithful agent of the city to press bricks on the streets, and 
warm curbstones with the lower extremity of his overcoat, but 
I can prove it by your excellent Principal that no one can ever 
make a superb penman or know how to strike a balance sheet, 
without patient, earnest opplication, and lots of it at that. No 
one has ever become distinguished who spent his time holding- 
curbstone tickets to all public performances which came along, 
or who sat astride empty dry goods boxes whittling the soft, 
white pine with a razor-edged jack-knife. (Laughter.) He must 
have the grit to assert himself, the get up about him to drive 
ahead, and the gumption to enable him to choose the expedient 
from the inexpedient — the right from the wrong; and at all 
times "to look out and not in; look up and not down; look for- 
ward and not back, and lend a hand." (Applause.) 

I. I remark, my young friends, first of all, that grit implies 
determination. There is one man known to history, and long 
illustrious among his fellow men, who in his own meditations 
had reached the conviction that there was a new world far 
across the sea, and no disappointment or vexing delay could 
expell that conviction from his earnest mind. Neither hope 
deferred, nor the terrors of the deep, nor mutiny, nor the tem- 
pest, nor death, could turn Columbus from his resolute purpose. 
On he pressed in spite of them all — serene amid the tempest — 
full of hope when all around seemed to tell only of despair; and 
he stood at last on the shores of a lovely island in the ocean — 
the discoverer of lands whose granduer and beauty and fertility 
have brought mankind together and changed the whole history 
of the world. (Applause.) 

I remark also that it implies self assertion, but self assertion 
is not affrontery, or cheek. 0, the gall that some of our mod- 
ern young men possess! It is strong enough in many instances 
to stand off a whole minstrel troupe, and bring blushes to the 
cheek of a life insurance agent or a Bowery auctioneer. (Laugh- 
ter.) Some of our boys (none of you, of course,) have brass 
enough to start a bell foundry, and have enough left to braze 



Three G's— Grit, Get, and Gumption. 



401 



the cheeks of a whole company of military cadets. (Loud 
laughter). This is not self-assertion; nor is self-assertion self- 
ishness. As Mr. Lincoln used to say, this reminds me of a 
story: 

Once upon a time a young couple were going to get married. 
The day was fixed and the crowd gathered in. It was a delight- 
ful company of delightful people. The hour for the ceremony 
came round. The old spectacled preacher took his position 
behind a chair on one side of the room, and began the cere- 
mony. By and by when he reached that point in the cere- 
mony wherein it says, "If there is any person present who can 
show any just cause why this couple shall not be lawfully joined 
together in holy wedlock, let him now speak, or else hereafter 
forever hold his peace." For a moment everything was still as 
death. But the silence was broken by a young man rising in 
one corner of the room and exclaiming, "Mr. Preacher, I have 
an objection." Every eye was instantly cast upon him. You 
could have heard a pin drop on the floor. It was as if the pulse 
of life stood still, and nature made a pause, an awful pause 
prophetic of her end. The minister said, "Sir, state your ob- 
jections." The yonng man's heart was in his throat; but after 
three or four terrible efforts, he succeeded at last in making him- 
self heard, "Mr. Preacher, I want the girl nryself." (Loud 
laughter.) That was selfishness. (Appl; use.) 

I will tell you what self-assertion is, my young friends. It 
means to look out for yourself; to be somebody; to resolve in 
boyhood that at the age of forty you will be a representative 
man amoug your fellows. It means also that if you win a lau- 
rel, you shall see to it that no one robs you of it. I wouldn't 
give the snap of my finger for a boy who, after he earns a place 
and gets it, lets another come along and shove him aside. (Ap- 
plause.) That kind of a boy will never amount to a pinch of 
snuff in the world. If the world is a great wheelbarrow, as Mr. 
Carlyle likens it to, there is a handle for every one who has a 
human heart. Get hold of your handle, young man; grasp it 
securely and push your way through life. Kemember that it 
was resolution which made Empedocles sacrifice himself to the 
flames of .Etna. It was resolution that made Anaxarchus, 
when his bones were crushed, make sport with his tormentors, 
and cry out: "Break, break, the carcass of Anaxarchus; but his 
mind you shall never break." It was resolution that made Reg- 



402 Public Addresses, &c of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



ulus fling himself into the arms of his enemies, and suffer himself 
to be stung and pricked to death. It was resolution that made 
Attalus sit down cheerfully in the fiery chair his persecutors had 
prepared for him, and say: "It's not we that do eat children, 
but it's you that devour innocent Christians." It was resolu- 
tion that made Blandina encourage her fellow-Christians, though 
she was wounded, torn, bruised, racked, and miserably handled. 
It was resolution that made Job bear his losses and ulcers with 
invincible magnanimity. It was resolution that made David 
run through a troop, and leap over walls of amazing highness. 
In short, it was resolution that made all great men great, and 
thus caused them to leave their impress upon the times in which 
they lived and flourished iu the world, and it will make you do 
these things, if you will only try it. 

Why not begin to-night as you leave this business school and 
go out into the world to dig your way through the thorns and 
briars which will hedge you in on every hand? Without decis- 
ion of character you will always be in hot water and distress. 
You want to know at all times what you are, and where you 
are, and what you are about; you want also to be supremely 
level-headed at every turn of the road. And right here another 
anecdote fits in. Tim Finegan was thought to be selling whis- 
ky in violation of law. So the prosecuting attorney of the coun- 
ty had another Irishman, who was fond of his cups, summon- 
ed before the grand jury to indict Tim. Said the prosecutor, 
Mr. Moriarty did you ever buy any liquor from Mr. Finegan?" 
No, sir, your honor, I nivir bought awny liquor from Tim Fine- 
gan," was the prompt reply. "Well now, Mr. Moriarty, were 
you not at Mr. Finegan'sone night when a barrel of whisky was 
unloaded out of a wagon, and did you not get some of it, and 
wasn't it liquor of some kind?" asked the prosecutor. "Yis sir, 
I was thieare one night and I saw a barrel of something lift 
theare, and on one head of the barrel was written Tim Finegan, 
and on the other was the word whisky; but as I didn't git any 
of it,, I couldn't for the life of me tell whither Tim Finegan was 
in the whasky, or the whasky was in Tim Finegan, or whither 
they was both in each other." (Loud laughter). 

But above everything else Grit means courage. Do you know 
that the world is full of moral cowards? Full of men who are 
afraid of their shadows; men who are afraid to do right lest it 
might prove unpopular; men who stand around trembling for 



Three G's— Grit, Get, and Gumption. 



403 



fear they might lose a dollar, or a vote, or an office should they 
assert their views in relation to many of the great questions 
which are constantly shoving themselves upon the people; men 
who are standing around with their mouths sealed like a duck 
on an iceberg, with one leg under his wing, waiting for some- 
thing good to turn up and bring success, Micawber like with- 
out an effort on the part of themselves. (Laughter). What 
most of us need above everything else is more real, genuine grit 
and pluck. (Applause). 

Mr. Moody tells this story from history: A young man came 
up with a little handful of men to attack a king who had a 
great army. The young man only had 500 soldiers; and the 
king sent a messenger to the young man with instructions to 
say to him that he need not fear to surrender as he meant to 
treat him mercifully. The young man in the presence of the 
messenger, called up one of his soldiers and said: "Take this 
dagger and drive it to your heart;" and the soldier took the 
dagger and thrust it into his heart. And calling up another, 
he said to him, "Leap into yonder chasm;" and the man leaped 
into the chasm. The young man then said to the messenger, 
"Go back and tell your king I have 500 men like these. Tell 
him we will die, but we will never surrender. And tell your 
king another thing, that I will have him chained with my dog 
inside of an hour." When the king heard these things he did 
not dare to meet the 500, and his army fled before him like 
chaff before the winds; and within 24 hours he had that king 
chained with his dog. That's grit, my friends! (Loud applause. ) 

Says Oliver Wendell Holmes: 

"Be firm! one constant element in luck 

Is genuine, solid old Tuetonic pluck; 

See yon tall shaft; it felt the earthquake's thrill, 

Clung to its base and greets the sunshine still." 

II. My second G means Get. The language of the street would 
express it, "get-up-ancl-get" After all, my young friends, the 
old couplet is not far wrong, 

"It is neither birth, nor wealth, nor state, 
It is get-up-and-get that makes men great." 

There are many kinds of "Gets" in the world. Such as, for ex- 
ample, get ahead, get along;, get among, get before, get behind, 
get awake, get asleep, get at, get back, get between, get drunk, 



404 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Or. W. Atkinson. 



get sober, get caught, get clear, get forward, get near, get home, 
get up, get down, get in, get out, get off, get licked, and, worst 
of all, get left. (Laughter.) I hope none of you will get left. 
Right here let me throw in another one of these important gets, 
lest I might forget it at its proper place; above all, young man, 
when you get to be 25 years of age, get married. (Laughter.) 
Very few men ever ar lount to anything until they get married. 
And between you am me, without letting it go any farther, I 
have but little confid mce in, and no respect for, a man who is 
over 25 years of age and in good health, who does not support 
a wife. (Laughter ar d cheers.) Still, this is a free country, and 
you needn't get married unless you want to. And I will also in 
this quiet, inoffenshe wa}^, give notice to all simple-minded 
young ladies, who arr now happy and self-supporting — that is, 
who can keep books and teach school— that there is no statute 
I know of which requires them to assume the burdens of wife- 
hood, unless they pr fer to do so. (Laughter.) If they now 
have, as Bill Nye puts it, "An abundance of new clothes and pin 
money," they can remain single, if they wish, without violating 
the laws of the land. (Laughter.) This rule is also good when 
applied to happy and self-supporting young men, who wear 
good clothes, ride bicycles, visit skating rinks, and have money 
in their pockets. No j r oung man who is free, happy and inde- 
pendent however, needs invest his money in a family, and carry 
a colicky baby seventeen miles and two laps in a single night, 
and pour down its windpipe three bottles of Mrs. Winslow's 
soothing syrup, unless he wants to. (Loud laughter.) But 
with all the drawbacks many of us prefer it, and when we go in- 
to it with the right spirit, we do not regret it. (Applause.) 

Seriously, my young friends, the "Get" in my text means that 
you should keep your wits about you, and push things for all 
that they are worth. In short, it means success. 

Admiral Faragut gives the following account of his start in 
life: "My father was sent down to New Orleans, with the little 
navy we then had, to look after the treason of Aaron Burr. I 
accompanied him as cabin boy, and was ten years of age. I 
had some qualities wdiich I thought made a man of me. I could 
swear like an old salt; could drink as stiff a glass of grog as if I 
had doubled Cape Horn, and could smoke like a locomotive. I 
was great at cards and was fond of gaming in every shape. At 
the close of the dinner one day, my father turned ever} 7 body out 



Three G's— Grit, Get, and Gumption. 



405 



of the cabin, locked the door, and said to me, "David, what do 
you mean to be?" "I mean to follow the sea." "Follow the 
sea! Yes, be a poor, miserable, drunken sailor before the mast, 
kicked and cuffed about the world, and die in some fever hospi- 
tal in a foreign clime." "No, I said, I'll tread the quarter deck 
and command, as yon do." "No, David; no boy ever trod the 
quarter deck with such principles as you have, and such habits 
as you exhibit. You'll have to change your whole course of life 
if \ou ever become a man." My father left me and went on 
deck. I was stunned by the rebuke and overwhelmed with mor- 
tification. "A poor, miserable, drunken sailor before the mast, 
kicked and cuffed a bout the world, and to die in some fever hos- 
pital!" That's my fate, is it? I'll change my life, and change 
it at once. I will never utter another oath; I will never drink 
another drop of intoxicating liquor; I will never gamble. And 
as God is my witness, I have kept these three vows to this 
hour." (Loud applause). 

Young man, if you want to succeed, you must do exactly as 
did this great man Farragut. Nothing short of absolute so- 
briety and absolute decency and absolute trustworthyness can 
give success. No one has ever attained even temporary as- 
cendency with a character as loose as a Mother Hubbard dress. 
(Laughter.) 

III. But what of my third G? It stands for an ugly word, 
but it is significant;. You may laugh at it if you want, but I 
tell you none other in our language has a deeper root of mean- 
ing and value to the young people of our land. It stands for 
honest, unadulterated, old Anglo-Saxon Gumption. (Laughter.) 
It is what all of us need to enable us to steer successfully be- 
tween the Scylla of flippancy on the one hand and the Charyb- 
dis of long faced sobriety on the other. I enjoy dignity, but I 
everlastingly abhor the old-fashioned solemncholly which re- 
quired one to lengthen out his face as long a dinner horn, and 
look as solemn as an owl. (Loud laughter.) But on the other 
hand when I hear a person cackling, as I often do, over the merest 
goose-gable I say he lacks gumption. (Laughter.) When I see 
a young man with pants so tight that he looks as if he had 
been melted and poured into them, I say he lacks gumption, 
and so do you. (Laughter.) When I see him walk into a saloon, 
supporting a plug hat and a rattan cane, and call for "schwy 
glass beer," as I often see on the streets of Wheeling, I not only 



406 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



say he lacks gumption, but I say to myself poor fellow, if he 
doesn't check up, he will sooner or later be lost — lost to himself, 
lost to his friends, lost to his family, lost to society, lost to his 
country, lost forever! When I hear young men swearing, pro- 
fanely, and^seen them swaggering idly about, lounging in the 
shades, spending their sabbaths at park beer gardens, I say 
they lack gumption, and they know it themselves as well as you 
and me. But when I see them attending school daily with a 
good-sized lot of books under their arms; and see them toiling 
in Colleges like this, in order that they may fit themselves for 
usefulness, I earnestly declare that they have gumption; and if 
they persevere they cannot fail to succeed. (Applause.) 

I know 7 , Mr. President, that every mind w T hich comes into the 
world has its own specialty— is different from every other mind; 
that each of you brings into the world a certain bias, a disposi- 
tion to attempt something of your own — an aim a little differ- 
ent from that of any of your companions; and that every 
young man is a failure so long as he does not find what is his 
bias or bent; that just so long as you are influenced by those 
around you, so long as you are attempting to do those things 
which you see others do well, instead of doing that thing which 
you can do well yourself, you are so far wrong, so far failing of 
your own right mark. There can be no mistake about this. 
Then, my young friend, be wise enough at all times to be your- 
self. (Applause.) 

And let me tell you, young men, it is wise to do another thing 
— use to the very best advantage all the powers and talents 
which God has given you. Remember that there is a penalty 
affixed to the non-use of our faculties and abilities, both in na- 
ture and grace. The man who, like the fakir in India, refuses to 
use his arm, will ultimately lose ability to use it. The man who 
refuses to use his moral faculties, will lose moral strength in 
the particular faculty which is not exercised. All of our facul- 
ties gain strength by exercise, and lose strength by non use. 
Nobody knows what strength of parts he has till he has tried 
them. And of the understanding one may most truly say, that 
its force is greater, generally, than it thinks, 'till it is put to the 
test. Therefore, the proper remedy here is but to set the mind 
to work, and apply the thoughts vigorously to the business at 
hand; for it holds in the struggles of the mind as in those of 
war, duw putant se vincere, vicere. A persuasion that we shall 



Three G's— Grit, Get, and Gumption. 



407 



overcome any difficulties that we meet with in the sciences, sel- 
dom fails to carry us through them. No one knows the 
strength of his mind, and the force of steady and regular appli- 
cation, 'till he has tested them. This is certain; he that sets 
out upon weak legs will not only go farther, but grow stronger 
too, than one who, with a vigorous constitution and firm limbs, 
only sits still. (Applause.) 

What a large volume of adventures may be grasped within 
this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in every- 
thing; and who, having eyes to see what time and chance are 
perpetually holding out to him as he journeys on his way, misses 
nothing he can fairly lay his hands on! I pity the man who can 
travel from Dan to Beersheba, and cry: " 'Tis all barren." And 
so it is; and so is all the world to him who will not cultivate the 
fruit it offers. 

I wish I could engrave this advertisement on your minds, for 
it means more than words can express: 

Lost.— Somewhere between the hours of 7 a. m. and 6 p. m., 
to-day, two golden hours. No reward is offered, because they 
are lost forever. (Applause.) 

One thought more in conclusion: The wisest life is the one 
based upon the pilgrim idea of pressing onward and not look- 
ing back. Countless lives have been wrecked by back-sights in- 
stead of front ones. Many stop by the way because they meet 
an obstacle of some sort. Such persons get side-tracked by the 
passing multitudes. Some are never willing to leave their mis- 
haps behind them. There are second chances, my young friends, 
in life. If we cannot get the first place, let's take the second 
place. We rise to every summit by stepping over obstacles. 
We reach the top of a monument by ascending step by step. 
Elevators are not operated for the benefit of the masses. If in 
the race of life you wait to be hoisted to the top rung of the 
ladder, you will be left standing on the ground. Absolutely the 
three G's I have mentioned are essential to enable you to rise 
above mediocre men. I thank you for the attention you have 
given me. (Prolonged applause.) 



408 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



STATE SUNDAY SCHOOL CONVENTION. 

Remarks of Governor G. W. Atkinson in Response to an Ad- 
dress of Welcome Extended to the State Sunday 
School Convention, in Annual Session 
at Ra vens wood. 



My friends, this is a very pleasant duty for me to perform, and 
I therefore cheerfully respond to your call on this occasion. I 
am sure I speak for all these delegates when I say they are pro- 
foundly grateful for this very generous reception. I trust that 
this gathering of Sabbath School toilers will prove profitable 
alike to both delegates and citizens. 

The Sunday School institution, my friends, is only a little 
over one hundred years old, and yet it numbers millions. The 
Sunday School Army is one of the best organized bodies on the 
earth to-day, and it is now only in its infancy as a factor in the 
effort to uplift the people to higher conceptions of life and duty. 
Daniel Webster in one of his great speeches said, ; 'The sun ris- 
ing in the east and sweeping westward never sets on the mar- 
tial melodies of England." So you can say, my fellow citizens, — 
you who are engaged in this important work, that the Sunday 
School Army belts the globe with a golden chain of children and 
song, and upon it the sun rises and never sets. (Applause). 
And withal it is only a child in stature yet. It is just beginning 
to put on a healthy growth. What is now but a rivulet will, 
by and by, be a Mississippi or an Amazon. It has yet scarce- 
ly begun to approach the rim of its possibilities. Therefore 
what you have seen in its operations is but the presage of its 
final accomplishments in the years that are to come. (Ap- 
plause). 

Pardon me for giving, in round numbers, a few statistics 
which, I trust, will be of value to one and all in my hearing to- 
day: Number of Sunday Schools in the United States, 1)9,000; 
number of teachers, 1,100,000; number of scholars 8,000,000. 
There are 73,000,000 people in the United States. Deduct 15 
per cent, for infants, and another 15 per cent, for those that are 
aged and decrepid, and there will still be left 20 per cent., or 



State Sunday School Convention. 



409 



about one-fifth of our entire population connected with Protes- 
tant Sunday Schools. To this number add, say a half million of 
Roman Catholics, and you have a showing of which you as Sun- 
day School workers, should justly be proud. It is plainly to be 
seen that this work has already attained a magnitude which 
fifty years ago, none would have believed it was possible for it 
to ever reach. (Loud cheers). 

We have our sects and denominations, and } r et, as this gath- 
ering and the one at Chscago a short time ago prove, all sects 
are one in aim and purpose and work. You are to-day, all over 
the Christianized world, using the same lessons, and largely the 
same methods and the same helps. You are all in the same 
boat, and are striving for the same shore. As you are march- 
ing forward in this great work you are touching elbows, you 
feel the thrill of kindred hearts, and cords of sympathy and af- 
fection vibrate from one to another as you are journeying 
through the world. (Applause.) This working together does 
much to promote a Union of Christians in all branches of relig- 
ious undertakings and endeavors; and after all, if you are true 
Christians, the questions upon which you differ are of but 
small consequence. Occasions like these therefore cannot fail 
to make you love one another more as brethren and friends. 

The renowned Rev. Dr. Broadus,in discussing the question of 
Christian unity, used this homely but forceful illustration: "I 
often,'' said he, "remember how, in my boyhood, on the old 
plantation in Virginia, there occurred this little incident: We 
hauled our produce forty miles to the market town, and one 
day the wagon came back with three instead of four horses, and 
I ran out— a boy of ten years or so— to ask the driver, an old 
family servant, about it. He said that the old horse was dead, 
and went on to tell me how he hauled out old Dobbin's body 
into the woods by the roadside; and the next morning old Mike 
was gone, and he did not know what to make of it, because he 
could always trust that old horse— never did tie him up— but he 
was gone. And he looked and looked, and there was old Mike 
standing over old Dobbin's dead body, looking down upon him 
as if he loved him. And the driver said it was all he could do 
to drag him away, because, you see, those old horses had 
worked together so many years, they pulled together, and I 
suppose they got to love each other because they always 
worked together. Oh! Christian people, the dumb brutes that 



410 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Or. W. Atkinson. 



perish learn to love one another by working together, and shall 
not we?" (Applause.) 

One of the grandest pageants I ever saw, or expect to see this 
side of heaven, was twenty thousand Sabbath School children 
in Brooklyn, a few years ago, on their annual "May Day 
March," bearing garlands and banners, and a million people 
looking on. That was union, with a big U, love with a big L, 
and sympathy with a big S. I said to myself, as the procession 
passed, although I am doing but little in the way of work, yet 
I belong to that army, and gave a large portion of my time, 
for more than a quarter of a centuiy, to arm and equip it for 
successful and proper service. (Applause.) 

My friends, only since the Christ came into the world has 
children been considered worthy of the especial care of the adult 
people. When he opened his loving arms, and said, "Suffer lit- 
tle children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such 
is the kingdom of heaven," he struck a cord that has rung 
down the centuries, and will ring along the ages forever. But 
while this is true, it is a strange fact that only a little over a 
hundred years have passed since the children were first organ- 
ized into a Sabbath School, and work was begun upon them to 
induce them in childhood to become religious. I have often 
wondered why men had not long before discovered that the 
character and destiny of a Nation can be fashioned and shaped 
by the training of the children. Twenty -five years hence, the 
youth of to-day will control the business and the politics of this 
great Republic. Is it not the duty, then, of all Christian work- 
ers, to not neglect the proper training of the children? 

A distinquished Catholic priest once said, "If I can have the 
control of the children of America until they are ten years old, 
Protestants may take them after that." He meant, of course, 
that he could shape their minds the first ten years of their lives 
in such a way that no power on the earth could change them 
from the Roman Catholic religion. (Cheers.) 

A father and child were one day passing through a woodland, 
and they came upon a very gnarled and crooked tree. The fath- 
er asked the boy if he could tell what bent the tree into that pe- 
culiar shape? The little fellow promptly replied: "Somebody 
tramped on it, when it was a little fellow." That boy w T as a 
philosopher. He understood a twig could be bent, but a tree 
never. 



State Sunday School Convention. 



411 



"The pebble in the streamlet scant 
Has changed the course of many a river, 

A dew drop on the baby plant 
Has warped the giant oak forever." 

Horace Mann once said, "Suppose all the conditions of the ed- 
ucation of children— all the moral and physical conditions were 
correct, what per cent, of the youths would grow up to be the 
right kind of men and women?" His own reply was, "Ninety-five 
per cent;" and doubtless he was correct. Now, if this is true of 
the body, what of the soul? If you as Sabbath School workers 
take the plastic child and educate it for the Christ, may you not 
hope and expect that ninety-five out of every hundred of them 
will grow up to manhood and womanhood so deeply grounded 
in "the faith" that all the powers of earth and darkness cannot 
switch them from the path of duty in the future? (Loud Ap- 
plause). 

In the large cities they raise massive brick blocks of buildings 
right up from the ground, and place a new story underneath. 
So, within a hundred years, men and women imbued with the 
spirit of the Master, when he called the little children to him, 
and told the disciples to "forbid them not," have lifted up 
the grand edifice of the Christian Church in the world,— lifted it 
up from the ground, — and placed a story underneath, and that 
story is the Sunday School, the real nursery of the Church. The 
primary aim therefore of the Sabbath school teacher is to in- 
duce his scholars to become Christians. A genuine teacher is 
truly "a fisher of men." (iVpplause.) 

If the world is to be changed, regenerated, redeemed, it can 
only be done by Christian men and women teaching the truths 
of the Gospel directly to the children. (Applause.) It was the 
immortal Richter who said, "It is the truth of the Lord Jesus 
Christ that has turned the channels of the centuries out of their 
course and thrown empires off their hinges." The" Gospel of 
the Christ is therefore the hope of the world. Good singing, 
good music, harmonious action, and the like, are desirable in 
the Sunday School work, but after all the study of the Word- 
powerful, simple, soul-saving— is the main thing. It is the 
"Sword of the Spirit" that severs the right from the wrong, in 
that it makes the way of duty plain to all. Some one has said 
that what the sun is to the solar system, the Bible is to Society. 
They are both light-bearers, they are both comforts to the 
world. Therefore, my friends, you should teach it, not so much 



412 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



for intellectual development as for spiritual enlightenment; not 
so much for mind food as soul food, and this will make you true 
"fishers of men." (Applause.) 

I read somewhere recently of a free concert that was given 
many years ago in Castle Garden, New York. There was a great 
gathering of the best musical talent of that wonderful city. 
Men and women were there who could sing in the German, and 
the French, and the Italian, and the Spanish, and, indeed, many 
other languages. It was noticed that when the singers were 
rendering a piece of music in the German, none but the Germans 
were interested; and when they sang in French, none but the 
French seemed to care anything about what was going on; and 
so it was with the Spanish, and the Italian, and the English. 
But when the Swedish nightingale, Jennie Lind, who was pres- 
ent, arose and began to sing as only she could; throwing into 
song all the emotions of a musical heart, all eyes at once fell 
upon her, and when she sang, "Home, Sweet Home," that 
mighty throng, the representatives of many nations, in almost 
every language under heaven, joined in the 'singing until the 
building shook with the melody of that song of all others near- 
est and dearest to every human heart. (Applause.) 

So it may be with you to-day, my friends. You may repre- 
sent other nations than our own America; 3^ou may speak for 
many churches and creeds; at times you may be narrow and 
often unconcerned while others are carrying on the work; you 
may be strangers to one another, for you are all pilgrims and 
sojourners on the earth; but there is a time when a chord is 
struck that goes home to every one that has a human heart, 
when all can unite as with one language and one voice — 

"All hail the power of Jesus' name, 

Let angels prostrate fall, 
Bring forth the royal diadem, 

And crown Him Lord of all." 

(Prolonged applause.) 



West Virginia's Two "War Senators." 413 



WEST VIRGINIA'S TWO "WAR SENATORS." 

Letter of the Governor to Judge John Brannon, of Weston. 

State of West Virginia, 
Executive Chamber, 
Charleston, December 2, 1899. 

Hon. John Brannon, 

Weston, W. Va., 
My Dear Judge:— 

I have carefully read your very able brief covering the point 
of the legality, or rather illegality, as you express it, of the 
right of our two West Virginia War Senators to cast their 
votes for the Hon. N. B. Scott for a Senator in Congress from 
West Virginia. 

I have only a few moments, at this time, to dictate a reply 
to your courteous letter accompanying your brief. 

While your argument is able and ingenious, it, at the same 
time, seems to me to be inapplicable for several important rea- 
sons: 

1st. The services rendered by these two Senators to their 
country, in the hour of its need, were in no wise, as I see it, in- 
compatible with the services they were expected to render their 
constituents, after they had taken the oaths of office as State 
Senators. 

2nd. The services they expected to render their country was 
only a volunteer service, and was therefore only temporary. 

3rd. Being officers in said voluntary service, they could at any 
time resign their positions so as to return to their homes and 
serve their constituents as State Legislators. 

4th. They did resign, came home, and resume their duties as 
Legislators. 

5th. Their right to sit as senators w r as questioned by Dem- 
ocratic members, and the Senate, a body under our State Con- 
stitution which has the right to judge of the "election, returns 
and qualifications of its own members," after mature debate, 
decided, as its records show, that they were duly elected mem- 
bers of the body, and therefore had a legal and indubitable right 



414 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



to sit as members thereof; and more than that they did sit and 
did vote as such members. 

While, as you contend, that a Captaincy or a Lieutenancy in 
the volunteer service of one's country in response to a call of its 
President, is a "lucrative office," yet how can you avail your- 
self of such contention, unless you can show that such volunteer 
service was incompatible with service in the Legislature, when 
not only the conditional facts in law, as well as the actual facts 
themselves, are directly against your contention? These Sena- 
tors only volunteered temporarily. They only served tempora- 
rily. They resigned their respective so-called offices. They 
promptly returned to their homes. They appeared at the open- 
ing of the Legislative session. They answered to their names on 
first roll call. The question was raised as to their right to sit as 
members. It was duly considered; and the Legislative body to 
which they belonged, by an "aye and nay" vote, decided that 
they, having been duly elected by the people, had a legal and 
just right to sit as members. They sat. They voted. How, 
then, can the Senate of the United States go behind the action 
of the State Senate of West Virginia, and in any way known to 
law or precedent, question their right to so sit and vote? 

Upon this one great point, the question you raise hinges, and 
it seeems to me that you wilJ be promptly overruled, notwith- 
standing the ability }^ou show as a great lawyer, and the many 
citations you give to sustain 3 r our contentions, which do not 
apply directly to the main point at issue, but only apply in a 
subsidiary way. 

I confess, however, that there is much in what you say as to 
what is a "lucrative office;" and there is also something in 
your contention that the word "eligible," or rather the ques- 
tion of eligibility for these two Senators to sit as State Legis- 
lators could only apply to the time or occasion when they first 
presented their credentials as members after their elections to 
said offices. Nevertheless the question of eligibility was raised 
at the second session of the Legislature as to their right to sit 
as legal members of the Senate at that time, and that honora- 
ble body, by the exercise of its right — at any time — to pass 
upon that question, decided that they were legal and lawful 
members of the body, and being such they had the legal right 
to vote for whom they pleased for a Senator in Congress. They 
voted for Mr. Scott. They had a lawful right so to do, and the 



West Virginia's Outlook For 1900. 



415 



Senate of the United States cannot go behind such decision; nor 
has it ever done so, except in two instances (as I understand it) 
and those were cases where there were two Legislatures, each 
claiming to be the real Legislative body of the two respective 
States. 

This thought has just occurred to me: Suppose the Pres- 
ident of the United States issues a draft in time of war for cit- 
izens within certain ages— 18 to 45. And suppose, say a major- 
ity of the members of a State Legislature were within said pre- 
scribed age, and they were regularly conscripted. And suppose 
further that they entered the army under said order; and sup- 
pose still furthermore that many of these Legislators were com- 
missioned as Captains. Lieutenants etc. The war lasts bat a 
few months. These officers and soldiers return to their homes, 
long before the Legislative body to which they belong is required 
to meet in general session. According to your contention, none 
of them would be eligible to sit as Legislators, because they had 
held ''lucrative offices'' under the Government of the United 
States, and for that reason they had forfeited their positions as 
Legislators, and could not therefore sit as members of a Legis- 
lative body to which they had been lawfully elected. If your 
theory is correct, a State, in this way, could be totally robbed 
of its Legislature, notwithstanding the fact that all of the duly 
elected members were present and ready for duty? This is by 
no means an overdrawn supposition, my dear Judge. 

I confess, Judge, that I read your brief with a good deal of in- 
terest, but as I said before, you will be overruled by the Senate. 
Cordially and truly yours, 

Gr. W. Atkinson. 



WEST VIRGINIA'S OUTLOOK FOR 1900. 



Executive Department 
Charleston, West Virginia. 

January 19, 1900. 

The Cincinnati Post, 

Cincinnati Ohio. 
The increase of business of all kinds in West Virginia, during 
1899 over the preceeding year is simply wonderful. Our great- 



416 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



est resources of wealth are coal, coke, oil, gas and timber. Our 
production of coal in 1899 was, in round numbers, nineteen 
million long tons. In coke, two and one-quarter million tons. 
We took third place from Ohio last year among the coal States, 
and will take second place from Illinois within twelve months. 
We have held second place to Pennsylvania in coke for several 
years. We expect to take first place in this product from Penn- 
sylvania within the next few years, for the reason that our coal 
coking area is much greater than Pennsyl va uia \s. We produced, 
in round numbers, last year, nineteen million barrels of white 
sand oil; and a new oil territory is being discovered every few 
weeks. It now looks as though the larger portion of our 25.000 
square miles of area is underlaid with pools of carbon oil. 

Lumber camps have increased marvelously during the past 
ten or twelve months. Thousands of men are employed in the 
cutting of our splendid timber into lumber, and the song of the 
saw is heard along almost every hillside. We have'yet remain- 
ing about eight million acres of virgin forests. ( )ur iron, steel 
and nail mills have been running double time for many months. 
We are building several new railroads, and. on the whole, it is 
difficult to get a sufficiency of laborers at good wages to supply 
the demand. It seems as though everybody is employed, and 
the great bulk of our people are prosperous and happy. The 
outlook for this year is very encouraging in all lines of business. 
Unless the unforseen happen*. West Virginia's growth the pres- 
ent year can scarcely now be estimated. Our population is in- 
creasing rapidly. Railroads cannot furnish cars to haul the 
freight from our coal mines. Iron mills are greatly behind with 
their orders, and the lumbermen cannot supply the demands 
upon them. 

Our farmers find ready sale, at big prices, for all of their pro- 
ducts. A large portion of West Virginia is grazing territory, 
and our cattle men are doing splendidly. 

We have a good climate, no malaria, no grasshoppers, no 
mosquitoes, no cyclones, no long winters, taxes reasonable, no 
State debt, and already over one million of population, and we 
have just fairly started into business. The prospects for growth 
and development generally, throughout the entire State, were 
never so encouraging as now. 

G. W. Atkixsox. 



Oration at Unveiling- Steele Monument. 



417 



ORATION 

By Hon. George W. Atkinson, P. G., at the Unveiling of the 
Monument, to the Memory of Past Grand Master Thomas 
G. Steele, at Grafton, West Virginia. 



Brethren of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, La- 
dies and Gentlemen:— 

•' We shape ourselves the Joy or fear 
Of which the coming life is made, 
And fill our future's atmosphere 
With sunshine or with shade. 

" The tissue of the life to be 
We weave with colors all our own, 
And in the field of destiny 
We reap as we have sown. 

" Still shall the soul around it call 
The shadows which it gathered here 
And, painted on the efernal wall, 
The past shall reappear. 

" Think ye the notes of holy song 
On Milton's tuneful ear have died? 
Think ye that Raphael's angel throng 
Has vanished from his side? 

"Oh, no! we live our life again: 
Or warmly touched; or coldly dim, 
The pictures of the past remain — 
Man's works shall follow him." 

It is believed that the most ancient monuments erected by 
man to mark his transient passage on the earth, such as the pyra- 
mids of Egypt and the temples of Meroe, do not reach beyond 
fifty or sixty centuries into the past. Memorial tablets, there- 
fore, if regarded in a material sense, are perishable and fading. 
The skeleton which the corals secreted during life remains an 
almost indestructible record of their existence; for while, with 
rare exceptions, the bones of the higher animals vanish after a 
few years from the surface of the earth, the stone polyp, firmly 
rooted to the spot which it occupied while alive, marks the 
lapse of centuries, and seems to bid defiance to all time. 

27 



418 



Public Addkesses, &c, of G. W. Atkinson. 



The works, therefore, of insignificant insects are far more en- 
during than any similar product of the hand of man. But, my 
brethren, there are monuments that are enduring. There are 
shafts that the tooth of time cannot destroy. There are found- 
ations, which men build, that the plowshare of the ages cannot 
break up. There are mausoleums that will live forever. They 
are, however, not of stone, or marble, or granite, or bronze, or 
brass. They are works, and deeds, and toils, and tears. They 
are names enshrined in the hearts of men. They are men that 
spend their lives in elevating their fellows; in dealing out charity 
to the needy; in lifting up the fallen; in drying the tears of the 
widow T s and the orphans. In short, men that spend their lives 
in making the world better, and nobler, and grander because of 
their having lived in it. These, my friends, are monuments that 
will stand when all others shall have crumbled into dust, and 
passed away forever. 

Beneath the flags of the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral, in Lon- 
don, rests the body of the great architect, Sir Christopher 
Wren. On the slab above was written these words: "Reader, 
wouldst thou behold his monument, look about you." So say 
we to-day. If you would behold the deeds of him whose monu- 
ment we unveil this hour, and the great Order which he repre- 
sented and adorned, look around you. His were not particu- 
larly deeds of greatness, but rather were they deeds of kindness, 
faithfulness and devotion. Not heroic acts in the sense of win- 
ning laurels through danger or through blood, but acts of gen- 
tleness, and above all, acts which demonstrated that there were 
men in the world, and that there are now men in the world, that 
could and can be implicitly trusted. And, after all, my broth- 
ers, is it not wisest to try to do right and be true to all our trusts, 
and loyal to those we represent, even if we fail to reach exalted 
positions among our fellows, than to attain distinction and fame 
at the expense of truth, virtue and right? In my judgment we 
err, indeed seriously err, when we struggle for position at the ex- 
pense of integrity. We err when we strive for a standing before 
the world, if to go up ourselves we should pull others down. We 
err in trying to build up a great name, if to accomplish it we 
should sacrifice virtue. I tell you, my brethren, here to-day in 
this solemn presence, that true greatness is true goodness. He 
is not truly great who is not truly good. His name will live 
longer among men who spent his life in dispensing sunshine and 



Oration at Unveiling Steele Monument. 



419 



charity among his fellows, than he who filled the most exalted 
positions at the expense of those virtues on which the wicked 
frown, and the upright cherish and support. 

My friends, we meet here to-day amid these solemn surround- 
ings to honor the memory of a departed brother, who when liv- 
ing was a tall cedar in our beloved Order. We meet to unveil 
the monument' erected by this Grand Lodge to perpetuate, as 
far as marble and granite can do it, the name, the deeds, the 
works, the merit, the character, the life of Past Grand, Past 
Grand Secretary, Past Grand Master, Thomas Gregg Steele, 
who departed this life with the harness of Odd Fellowship upon 
him, April 15, 1883; and here beneath this shaft, on this beau- 
tiful hilltop, where God's sunshine falls all the day, we buried 
him. Here he will rest in the quiet sleep of death, until in God's 
good time the grave shall give up its dead, and he shall enter 
into that nobler mansion, that house not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens. 

Our departed brother, Thomas G. Steele, was born in Fer- 
monensy parish, near Maghera, county Derry, Ireland, Novem- 
ber 4, 1804. His parents were moral and religious. His early 
training, therefore, was in the channel in which his parents 
walked. He was fairly educated in the schools of that locality, 
and being a man of industrious and persevering habits, he pur- 
sued a rigid course of reading and study all through life. Au- 
gust 18th, 1836, he was united in marriage with Miss Anna 
McMurray, in the city of Lengen. It proved a happy union. 
This good woman died about a year before her husband, and 
from the shock of her removal he never recovered. She crossed 
the river a little in advance, and he was never reconciled to life 
without her associations. Being an earnest toiler and weary 
from earth's labors, like Bishop Haven said he would do, when 
he reached the "shining shore", after thanking the blessed Lord 
for his salvation, he too will hunt up his sainted wife, place his 
head in her lap and rest from toil's harassments for a thousand 
years. 

Life is made up of small things which hourly occur as men 
pass through the world; and these little acts reveal the inward 
nature of men, and furnish the keys to their true history. It is 
in the home life, more than in any other place, where is revealed 
the stuff out of which men are made, rather than in those 
crises w T hich are considered the usual tests of a man's make up 



420 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



as they are written in brilliant feats in the lightning's glare 
across the skies. The gentle deeds of kindness strewn along 
life's pathway leave behind them a halo of light that will shine 
longer than the greatest speeches of the world's most gifted 
orators. The little boy who discovered the water breaking 
through the dj^kes in the lowlands of Holland and promptly 
stopped the leak with clay, revealed a nobler manhood than 
brave Winkplreid, who, at the head of the Swiss army, cried, 
"Make w r ay for liberty," and rushing upon the bayonets of the 
enemy, made wa}- for liberty and died. The noble Scotch peas- 
ant girl, (Margaret Graham) who refusing to renounce her re- 
ligion, was by Claverhou3e's order tied to a stake on the sea- 
shore and was overwhelmed by the tide, showed a finer fiber 
and a braver record than that of Chambronue when he shouted 
to the British, "the guard dies, but never surrenders." The 
watchman at Pompeii, buried at his post by the molten lava 
which ran down from the crater of Vesuvius, tells the Roman 
story in grander language than the ruins of the Colliseum; and 
brave Herndon on the deck of his ship, doing all he could to save 
his crew, chosing death to dishonor, is a grander picture of true 
heroic temper than that of Julius Caeser leading his legions to 
victory, or the conquering Corsican at the Bridge of Lodi. Ah, 
friends! among the quiet workers in the world are heroes 
worthy the emulation of true men and women everywhere. The 
basis of heroism is unselfishness. The man or the woman who 
truly and faithfully carries out this command of Scripture: 
"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to 
them that hate you, and pray for them which despitef ully use 
you," is God's true hero, and man's best guide on earth. 

I believe our departed brother was just such a man as that. 
His brother, the Rev. Samuel Steele, D. D., who knew his inner 
life better than any of us, in talking to me on the subject, said: 
"He was one of nature's noblemen— kind-hearted, loving and 
trustful as a child; yet firm as a rock to the truth and the 
right. He was loyal to the country of his adoption, and as an 
Odd Fellow, he was always true to the "principles of Friendship, 
Love and Truth." I believe every word of this to be true; and 
you, my brethren, I know, also believe every word of it to be 
true. It must now be evident to all that our brother was 
guided through life by the thought that 



Oration at Unveiling Steele Monument. 



421 



"Every sower must one day reap 
From the seed that he has sown 

How carefully, then, it becomes us to keep 
A watchful' eye on the seed, 

To sow what is good; that we may not weep 
One day, to receive our own.' 

Tired of the customs of the Old World, Brother Steele and 
his family came to this country, landing at New York in April, 
1845, and at Fairmont, this State, in July of the same year. 
Here he resided until the spring of 1874, when he removed to 
Grafton, where he remained until our Supreme Grand Master 
called him from labor in the lodge below to rest forever in the 
Grand Lodge beyond the skies. To him and his wife were born 
a large family that grew up to be wot thy men and women who 
are esteemed and respected by all who know them. 

Before leaving Great Britain, Brother Steele united with the 
Church of England, always proving himself a worthy member, 
and he loyally remained in its communion until the day of his 
death. 

March 15, 1845, Marion Lodge No. 64, I. 0. 0. F., was or- 
ganized by Past Grand Master Luther Haymond under the 
jurisdiction of Virginia. Our departed Brother Steele was one 
of its charter members, and as its representative at Richmond, 
April 14, 1851, he received the Past official degrees in the Grand 
Lodge of Virginia. He again represented his Lodge in 1855 
and 1857, and was appointed and installed Grand Marshal in 
the Grand Lodge of Virginia by Grand Master Thomas J. 
Evans, in 1858. He was chosen Grand Warden in 1860, and 
Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Virginia in April, 1 861. 
Every Odd Eellow of our day knows full well that out of all the 
distinguished men that made up the Grand Lodge of our 
mother State, it was a great honor to bp selected to fill the 
highest office in its gift. The rapid advancement Brother 
Steele made in passing the chairs of the Grand Lodge is evi- 
dence of his ability as a man and his high standing as an Odd 
Fellow. It was at the beginning of our late fratricidal war that 
Brother Steele was placed in the Grand Master's chair. And I 
am free to admit to-day that if the teachings, the counsel and 
the spirit of our Order had ruled in the minds and hearts of the 
people of our country at that time, war's rude blasts would 
never have been sounded to drown the voice of white-robed 
fraternity and peace. 



422 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



But this was not to be, and before the time had come for the 
next annual communication of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, a 
wall of bristling bayonets stood between Richmond and the 
mountain home of the worthy Grand Master. War is at all 
times dreadful, but our late civil war combined in its progress 
all the elements and instrumentalities that make it most dread- 
ful. Among these was the separation of the members of our 
friendly Order, between whose hearts and homes the three- 
linked golden chain of Friendship, Love and Truth was severed 
by the sword. 

Although sorely grieved and dismayed, Grand Master Steele 
was not cast down. On the western slopes of the Alleghenies 
he could still see the watch fires of our lodges amid the general 
darkness and gloom. These fires he visited and rekindled with 
his zeal and counsel, as chance afforded him opportunity. He 
was put over them as a good shepherd by the Grand Lodge of 
the United States, until, largely through his own action and 
intelligent efforts, our own Grand Lodge of West Virginia was 
instituted, when he was elected its first Grand Secretary, which 
office he filled and adorned, with but one short interval, until 
removed by death. 

My friends, it is certainly comforting to those who now sur- 
vive to have a dear friend leave behind him so delightful and 
clean a record as our departed friend. And it is comforting 
also to have so exalted a standing as did our departed brother, 
in an institution like the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. A 
large part of his life was devoted to the work of this Order, 
whose two-fold aim, from its origin, has been to bring all men 
into a closer union with one another, and to relieve their wants 
in times of sorrow and distress. How grand was his work in 
this respect! How exalted the character of a man who lives 
out in his daily walks, as well as in his teachings and his works, 
those God-given principles of Friendship, Love and Truth. 

It has always seemed to me that there is a brotherhood in 
Nature. How strong the ties between our hearts and the fields, 
the flowers, and the trees. How near are our relations to the 
green things that wither and the bright and beautiful ones that 
die. The faded violet is the fragrant memory of the sweet babe 
who early drooped and died. The still, unscattered dust of the 
flower which fades in June, brings to our remembrance the fair 
form who was suddenly breathed upon by some mysterious 



Oration at Unveiling Stekle Monument. 



423 



emissary, and passed away in its noon. Another falls from the 
tree of life like that sere leaf in autumn. In the woods in win- 
ter, when the earth is cro vned with the leaves of the trees then 
bare and forlorn, we cannot be long alone. Visions and asso- 
ciations will gather unwittingly around us. Departed forms 
and almost forgotten laces will rise like shadows from the grave. 
These almost forgotten faces will come forth from the shadows 
of the past and bear witness, which, like monumental inscrip- 
tions on the pavement, the feet of traffic are continually defac- 
ing, but which the sweep of the years renders again clear and 
legible: "All flesh is as grass: the grass withereth and the flower 
fadeth;" but the brotherhood and fellowship of man will endure 
forever. 

Let me ask, if you please, what are some of the principles that 
this institution of Odd Fellowship teaches which our departed 
brother loved so well? Go ask that brother who has fallen in 
the pathway of life, whose plans have miscarried, and who finds 
himself weighed down by the burdens of care and distress. God 
knows, my brethren, the world is filled with such men to-day. 
You see them lying all about you. Ninety-two per cent, of all 
the men who engage in business of all kinds fail. It seems to 
be a part of the divine plan. Go ask one of these men what this 
Order teaches, and he will tell you it teaches him that all true 
brothers will endeavor to lift him up, to remove the obstacles 
from his pathway, and assist him in bearing the burdens anew 
under which he had to go down. To such an one there is in 
Odd Fellowship something more than mere ceremonies. There 
is in it an invisible tie which links mankind together in one 
great family of friends and brothers. Ask the Odd Fellow's 
widow what it teaches; ask his orphan what it teaches; ask the 
sick brother what it teaches; ask the wanderer in a strangeland 
what it teaches; and ask the brother who has erred and fallen, 
who comes back weeping before the altar of his lodge, confesses 
his waywardness, and is again taken by the hand and welcomed 
as a brother,— ask him what it teaches. Ask those who have 
been blessed in/the accumulation of wealth,— ask them if it does 
not insist that they shall share their property with the help- 
less, and thus, without injury to themselves, relieve the wants 
of many of their needy associates who have been less fortunate 
in the world. 

But above everything else, my friends, it teaches Brotherly 



424 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



Love. I once read an incident which was vouched for as true 
by a missionary from Africa. Said he: 

"While traveling through the southern portion of that dark 
continent, I observed two lepers in a corn-field not far from a 
hospital or pest-house. One of them had no limbs, the other 
no arms. The one with no legs was sitting astride the shoulders 
of the one with no arms. Upon the back of the former was a 
bag of seed corn, which he was dropping in a furrow; while the 
one with no arms was walking, carrying his load, and covering 
up the grain with his feet." 

Thus the two cripples, by this unity of action, made a perfect 
man. Such a union of forces should be, and usually is, the aim 
of the Brotherhood to which we belong. In it all members are 
taught to have a constant care for one another's welfare, thus 
cultivating a disposition to unite, to love, to cherish, and to help 
one another along in the great battle of life. 

May I add that the lesson of this hour is for all of us to be 
true to all those essentials which make up real manhood, as was 
our brother whose memory we honor to-day. Let us emulate 
his example in the practice of those virtues which adorned his 
life and character; and let us all labor as earnestly as we can for 
the triumph of that nobler civilization which Odd Fellowship 
teaches, and which we regard as the basis of good morals and 
good government everywhere. 

"There's a good time coming, brothers, 
A good time coming; 

We may not live to see the day, 

But earth shall glisten in the ray 
Of the good time coming. 

Cannon balls may aid the truth. 

But thought's a weapon stronger; 

We'll win the battle by its aid- 
Wait a little longer. 

" There's a good time coming, brothers, 

A good time coming; 
The pen shall supercede the sword, 
And right, not might, shall be the lord, 

In the good time coming. 
Worth, not birth, shall rule mankind, 

And be acknowledged stronger; 
The proper impulse has been given; 

Wait a little longer. 

"There's a good time coming, brothers, 
A good time coming; 
Hateful rivalries of creeds 
Shall not make their martyrs bleed 



Oeation at Unveiling Steele Monument. 425 



In the goad time coming. 
Religion shall be shorn of pride 

And flourish all the stronger; 
And Charity shall trim her lamp; 

Wait a little longer. 

"There's a good time coming, brothers, 

A good time coming; 
The people shall be temperate 
And shall love instead of hate 

In the good time coming. 
They shall use, and not abuse 

And make all virtue stronger; 
The reformation has begun, 

Wait a little longer. 

"There's a good time coming, brothers; 

A good time coming; 
Let us aid it all we can — 
Every woman, every man — 

The good time coming. | 
Smallest helps, if rightly given, 

Make the impulse stronger, 
'Twill be strong enough one day; 

Wait a little longer." 



GOVERNOR ATKINSON'S OPINION OF 
"THE GOLDEN RULE." 






Executive Department 
Charleston, West Virginia. 

January 20, 1900. 



The Daily Tribune, 



Chicago, 111. 



Gentlemen: — 



I agree with Mr. Carroll D. Wright that the surest and safest 
solution of the labor problem lies in a thorough understanding 
between the employer and the employee. But just how to 
bring about this proper understanding has proved to be a diffi- 
cult problem. I have always held that arbitration and co-op- 
eration cannot fail of success if honestly handled by both sides 
of all controversies. 



1. As to your first inquiry as to what is contained in the 
''Golden Rule," I beg to say that it means that every man 



426 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



shall deal honestly with every other man. If every citizen will 
gauge his conduct in life by the plumb line of truth and hon- 
esty, the golden age will have been ushered in. 

2. I most emphatically say that the Golden Rule should be 
followed and practiced at all times — in the home, in society, and 
in business. If every man will do unto others as he would have 
them do unto him, he cannot be other than Christ like in his 
make-up; and, if this were done, all troubles of every kind would 
pass away. 

3. If the teachings of the Golden Rule were practiced by all 
classes, there certainly could be nothing but harmony among 
all the working forces of mankind. 

4. I believe great progress has been made along the lines of 
arbitration, co-operation, and mutual responsibility between 
capital and labor during the past quarter of a century. I con- 
fidently believe that these will be the lines that will be generally 
and universally, I may say, adopted for the adjustment of all 
controversies and difficulties between capital on the one hand 
and labor on the other. 

5. Under no circumstances would I object to having the 
Golden Rule taught in the public schools. On the contrary, I 
would insist that it should be taught in all schools of every grade 
and character, and in the home life as well. 

6. The best wa}^ that I can think of popularizing the Golden 
Rule is (1) by teaching it to the children in our public schools, 
and (2) by men in high places, and in all businesses, practicing it 
in their daily walks and conversations. 

The man who refuses to adhere to the Golden Rule is an en- 
emy to himself, to good government, to good society, and to 
the Christian religion. 

Very respectfully yours, 

G. \V. Atkinson, 
Governor of West Virginia. 



Opinion on Choosing U. S. Senators. 



427 



GOVERNOR ATKINSON'S OPINION AS TO 
METHOD OF CHOOSING UNITED 
STATES SENATORS. 



Executive Department, 
Charleston, West Virginia. 

January 25, 1900. 

(Special Telegram.) 

The New York Herald, 

New York City, N. Y. 
I believe I can safely say that a very large majority of the 
voters of West Virginia favor the election of United State Sena- 
tors by the people, instead by the Legislatures. For many 
years, I have adhered to the present method of electing U. S. 
Senators, for the reason that it was the evident intention of the 
framers of the Constitution to remove the choosing otU. S. Sen- 
ators as far as possible from the people, as a safeguard against 
spontaneous and improper legislation; but, of late, I am inclin- 
ed, for reasons which I cannot here explain, to the belief that 
Senators should be chosen by the people. My experience, cover- 
ing many years in political matters, justifies the statement that 
the people can be fully trusted in all respects. 

Gr. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of West Virginia. 



TRIBUTE 

To the Rev. Richard Anderson Arthur, A. B., A. M., By Gover- 
nor Governor G. W. Atkinson, Ph. D. 

(From the Pittsburg Christian Advocate.) 

The subject of this sketch passed to his heavenly home No- 
vember 11, 1899, after having served the Church as a Gospel 
minister for almost afull half century. The memory of the just 



428 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



is ever blessed. "Let me die the death of the righteous, and my 
last end be like his." The life of this eminent devine was a 
heroic one. Born in what is now Webster County, West Vir- 
ginia, during the first quarter of the century that is now grand- 
ly rollingout, of po or parentage, and where public school houses 
were unknown, he was sorely handicapped in his early years. 
But possessing a longing desire for an education, a friend in 
Nicholas county furnished him the necessary funds, and he en- 
tered the Ohio University, at Athens, where he remained until 
he graduated in the classical course. In the meantime he was 
licensed as a minister in the M. E. Church, and during vacations 
he earned what he could by preaching and teaching. The first 
thing he did after graduation, was to refund the money that 
had been loaned to him, and which helped him through the 
University. This stamped him as an honest man. Burns 
therefore was supremely right when he said, "An honest man is 
the noblest work of God;" thus Professor Arthur maintained 
his integrity to the last, and always used his best endeavors 
to help his fellow men. 

After returning to his Virginia home, he become principal of 
the Northwestern Academy at Clarksburg, where he remained 
for several years, teaching during week days, and preaching 
every Sabbath, and often during school days, and was a pro- 
nounced success in both of these callings. 

He next entered the traveling connection, and grew rapidly 
as a minister of the Word. It was not long until he took high 
rank, revealing unusual pulpit powers and ability. Afterpreach- 
ing several years, he was elected professor of mathematics at 
his Ohio alma mater where he remained, if I remember correct- 
ly, eight years. Feeling that his true calling was the pulpit, he 
again entered the West Virginia Conference, and served the best 
churches and as Presiding Elder also until his health gave way 
some ten or more years prior to his death. As a superanuated 
member of the Conference, he preached more or less up to al- 
most the time that he entered into rest in the sweet, unending 
summer land of song. 

The Psalmist said: "When X consider Thy heavens the work 
of Thy fingers — the moon and stars which Thou has ordained, 
what is man that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man 
that Thou visitest him? Thou has made him a little lower than 
the angels! Thou has crowned him with glory and honor!" He 



Tribute to the Rev. R. A. Arthur. 



429 



crowned Professor Arthur with the glory and honor to weigh, 
measure and trace the movements of the myriad worlds that 
flash like diamond dust in the evening sky; to read the history 
of this world, as revealed in the indurated leaves of the rock- 
ribbed earth; to analyze the elements of nature, learn their sub- 
stance and powers, and subject them to his use and pleasure, 
and, in the grandeur of his thought and achievements, to ap- 
proach the fereat fountain of all truth. Thus Brother Arthur's 
scholarship enabled him to delve deeply into the mysteries of 
the Gospel. I knew him well, and I can truly say that, although 
somewhat uneven in his pulpit efforts, he was, nevertheless, a 
great preacher. At times he swept both earth and sky, and 
swayed the people at his will. It would be unjust to say less of 
him than this. I cannot describe his style of preaching better 
than by a trip I once took down the great St. Law T rence river 
on a steamboat. Gently the boat moved out into the massive 
stream. Soon the river widened into broad, deep and placid 
waters, and the boat, like a thing of life, glided over its gentle 
and unruffled surface. The banks and the islands were filled 
with delightful visions of villas, towns and cities, and we swept 
along as if amid the bowers of enchanted lands. Then the rap- 
ids lifted themselves before us, the calm stream broke into wild 
and seething torrents. Huge billows rolled on every hand, and 
like a cockle shell, our steamer tossed amid the waves, and gen- 
tleness, beauty, grandeur were all blended into one. Thus 
Professor Arthur impressed his hearers as from the pulpit he 
unfolded the hidden wonders of the Gospel of the Christ. 

During the dark days of the rebellion Brother Arthur exerted 
an influence for his country and his Church second to no man in 
his Conference, Loyal to both and true to God, he was, during 
those gloomy times, an irresistible power for good, and order, 
and law, and the protection of the flag. He was, therefore, a 
patriot without disguise. He never compromised with himself 
or anybody else, lie did what he believed to be right and duty 
without reference to results. He was a man of energy and will, 
and no man dared attempt to curb him in any of his utterances. 
As much as any other man of his generation in the State of his 
birth, he left his impress upon the times in which he lived. 

When a worthy man dies, he should not be too soon forgot- 
ten. The memory of a good man is a heritage, and his life an 
example to the generations in which he lived. In the history of 



430 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



this world, renown comes to the oncwho represents results. Let 
us not forget the patient toil, the indefatigable, painstaking ef- 
forts of this man of God, who at more than four-score years of 
living and laboring has passed bej^ond the veil, and has left be- 
hind him a record always on the side of right, which ought to 
live and be followed while the centuries roll on. Peace to his 
ashes. Rest to his soul. 

As golden grain in perfect sheaf, 

His years are numbered to the full extent, 
And rest to him is sweet relief; 

Whose whole career was nobly spent. 

Charleston, W. Ya., January 23, 1900. 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME 

By Governor G. W. Atkinson, at the Reception of S. B. Don- 
naly, International President of the Typographical 
Union, at Charleston, January 27, 1900. 



My Fkiexds and Fellow Citizens:— 

It is a great privilege to me to welcome yon, Mr. Donnally, as 
the International President of one of the greatest labor organ- 
izations of the times in which we live, to the Capital City of 
the State of West Virginia. It is said that comparisons are 
odious, andthey usually are; but I do not think my word will be 
questioned when I say that of all of the mechanical and labor 
organizations we have in this country, the printers are classed 
at the head and front for intelligence and though tfulness. The 
business itself naturally furnishes a mental drill which is not 
accorded to other labor organizations. However much it may 
be said that the typographer sets type automatically, very 
much like he distributes the type into his case, yet, it is never- 
theless true that he, of necessity, must absorb much of the val- 
uable information contained in the "copy" which he transmits 
into type. You are therefore, gentlemen, wiser and better in- 
formed than- the most of your brother mechanics who are en- 
gaged in other pursuits. 



Address of Welcome to I. T. U. President. 



431 



1 know from experience, Mr. President, much of the ups and 
downs of the printer's life, and this is one reason why I turn my 
warmest side towards you to-night, my friends. I believe most 
heartih' in all lawful organizations of every sort in these live, 
aggressive, pushing times. If men work singly and alone, they 
will have a poor show of success. But when they unite their 
forces, they become a mighty power in moving themselves and 
others along the great roadway of life. 

My friends, the age in which we live tends, in all its move- 
ments, to expansion, diffusion, universality. This tendency is 
again.st exclusiveness, restriction, narrowness and monopoly; 
although the latter just now seems to have a mighty run in all 
lands. The privilege of petted individuals is becoming less, and 
the human race is becoming more. The multitude is rising from 
the dust. Once we heard of the few, now we hear of the many; 
once of the prerogatives of the part, now of the rights of the 
whole. More than ever before, we now see that the masses have 
inalienable rights to assert, and vast duties to perform. The 
World was made for all, and not for a few, and the great aim of 
governments is to spread a shield over the rights of all classes. 
The spirit of these truths is now coming forth in all of the de- 
partments of life, and the sooner they become universal, the 
better it will be for mankind. 

My fellow-citizens, every day is a little life; and our whole life 
is but a day repeated. He, therefore, who loses a day is dan- 
gerously prodigal. Sweat is the destiny of all trades and call- 
ings, whether of the brows or of the minds. God never allowed 
any man to do nothing. Time is given and not lent. There- 
fore, all men should seek to toil. But many toil not, neither do 
they spin. No one wins anything unless he earnestly goes after 
it. 

American History, my friends, is being rewritten as the old 
Century rolls our, an 1 the new one is grandly coming in. The 
legendary and bcinimeutal method of writing it is growing into 
disfavor. A scientific age demands truth, and under its insist- 
ence, new data are coming to light, and old methods are pass- 
ing away. It is beginning to dawn on American minds that 
this great Republic is the child of all Europe, and not of any par- 
ticular part of it. We, as Americans, are no longer distinctively 
Anglo-Saxon. The Celt and the Teuton are now becoming 
mighty factors in the make-up of this, the greatest of all the Re- 



432 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



publics of the world, saying nothing of other nationalities that 
are pouring in upon us. We are a cosmopolitan people, with 
varied interests, and each interest, by organized efforts, looks 
after other classes. The one organization aids all others, and 
all others aid the one. The "Golden Rule" is becoming more 
conspicious as the World grows older. "Do unto others as you 
would have them do unto you," should be the basis of the aims 
of one and all. More than at any other period of the World's 
history, the rule now is for one brother to help another up and 
on; and the printers, perhaps, more than any other class, have 
done their full share in bringing this about. 

Horace Mann said: "Every school boy and school girl who 
has arrived at the age of reflection ought to know something 
about the history of the art of printing." As printing is the 
"art preservative," this great philosopher, in this sentiment, 
uttered a broad and lasting truth. I have often felt that a 
man who understands the printing art does much in the enlight- 
enment and the elevation of mankind. Wherever the light of 
civilization has extended, the typographer can be found. 
Wherever the torch of intelligence has been lighted the printer 
has turned on the light. Wherever free thought has gone the 
printer is always in the push. Wherever books have been issued, 
the printer is behind them. Wherever the Christian religion 
has lifted up the Cross, the printer is in the van. He, therefore, 
represents thought, intelligence, action. He has done his part 
in lifting humanity to higher heights of duty, and higher con- 
ceptions of his relations to his fellow men. 

Unless "Walt" Whitman was a printer, he went too far when 
he wrote this stanza: 

"The jour printer, with gray head and gaunt jaws, works at his case; 
He turns his quid of tobacco while his eyes blur with the manuscript." 

If this poor, old poet were not dead, the printers of the world 
would doubtless feel like resenting this apparent slur upon their 
high and noble calling. 

This, I believe, is the first time President Donnally, or any 
other International President of the Typographical Union, has 
ever visited the State of West Virginia. We, therefore, feel 
complimented by this call, and welcome him all the heartier to 
our midst and to our State. I speak for our people when I say 
that we are glad you came, Mr. President, and sincerely trust 



Address of Welcome to I. T. U. President. 



433 



that you will have a pleasant visit among us. The Mayor holds 
the keys of the city. I hold the keys to this building and grounds. 
His Honor, the Mayor, therefore, will be a trespasser if he at- 
tempts to enter these grounds and this building with his maces 
and his keys. These grounds and this building are open to you 
and to your friends so long as you may remain in our midst. 

Again I welcome you to Charleston most earnestly and most 
heartily, not only on behalf of all our printers, but on behalf 
of all of our people also. 



CAUSES OF MURDERS AND SUICIDES. 

Governor Atkinson's Opinion thereon. 



Charleston, W. Va., Feb. 17, 1900. 
The Rev. M. F. Compton, B. D., D. I). 

City, 
My Dear Sir: 

Replying to the several inquiries contained in your letter of 
to-day, I beg to reply as follows: 

1. The principal cause of so many murders and suicides, is the 
excessive use of intoxicants. When one's brain is aflame from 
intoxicants, the moral and spiritual faculties are overcome by 
the baser elements of the animal nature, and the natural se- 
quence is the commission of crimes, such as murder, suicide, lar- 
ceny, etc. 

Another cause for the prevalence of murder, is an uneducated 
and uncontrolable will, which is usually termed temper or vici- 
ousness. Men fly into passions and commit murder, which is 
attributable to lack of a proper discipline of the will. 

Still another cause for both murder and suicide, is the want 
of proper mental balance. Men are often controlled by imagin- 
ary things: such as hallucinations, illusions and delusions, and 
while in such condition, they frequently kill themselves or 
others, and feel that they are doing right. I cannot, therefore, 
account for many murders that have come to my notice, unless 
they result from some uncontrolable imaginery influence, men- 

28 



434 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



tal aberration, and psychologic condition which appear unac- 
countable to the average person who possesses a well balanced 
intellect, a jugt disposition and a clean heart. 

2. I regard the indiscrimnate carryingof pistols as one of the 
greatest crimes against civilization. No man, except officers 
in the line of their duties, should, under any circumstances, be 
allowed to carry fire arms. 

3. The reason that our courts do not punish more people for 
carrying concealed weapons, is because it is a difficult charge to 
prove. Such weapons are always concealed, and if one is sly 
about it, he can carry a pistol in his hip pocket for years, and 
no one will know anything about it until he pulls it from his 
pocket and takes a human life. It is the duty of all good citi- 
zens to report to the Prosecuting Attorneys of the various coun- 
ties of the State, every person who is known to carry a danger- 
ous weapon of any kind. 

4. Our present statutes against carrying concealed weapons 
are as strong as they can be made, unless the offence be made a 
felony, instead of a misdemeanor; and when one is found guilty, 
send him to the penitentiary. This provision would perhaps be 
too severe, but at the same time it would save scores and scores 
of lives to the State every year. 

5. The only suggestion I can make in a general way to pre- 
vent crimes of all grades, is to push the cause of general educa- 
tion and the Gospel of the Christ. An educated man, as a rule, 
can control his will, and a Christian man will not take a human 
life, unless it is absolutely necessary to save his own. 

Very respectfully, 

G. W. Atkinson. 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME 

By Governor G. W. Atkinson on Dewey Day, at Wheeling, West 
Virginia, February 22, 1900. 



Admiral Dewey, and Fellow-citizens of West Virginia:— 
There never was a time, and there never will come a time, 



Address of Welcome on Dewey Day. 



435 



when the masses of mankind have failed, or will fail to duly 
honor a patriot and a hero. The American people are not hero 
worshipers, but they adore the men that honor them. 

American citizens are patriotic, because their best thoughts 
and their highest purposes in life have ever been to advance and 
protect the interests and the welfare of their fellow-men. 

The sentiment of patriotism, however, is as universal as the 
human race. Other countries and other lands may allure one, 
for a time, with their beauties and their attractions, but when 
the novelty of change and scenery have pa.st, the recollections 
of native land break in upon the heart like the cheering sun- 
beams of a summer morn. However distant one may be from 
his fatherland, towards it he constantly turns his longings and 
his love as the Hebrew does towards the East; the Moslem to- 
wards his Mecca, and the Magician towards the sun; and it is 
well that it is so. 

Nothing, my countrymen, is so bound up with the cause of 
morality and religion as personal and political liberty and the 
universal rights of men. Unless I have read history backwards; 
unless Magna, Charta and the Declaration of Independence and 
the Bill of Rights are myths and shams and contumacious 
falsehoods; unless the sages, and heroes, and martyrs, who have 
sacrificed their lives for principle, and conscience, and country, 
were imposters; unless, indeed, the sublime transactions of all 
history are deceitful, there is no cause so closely linked with pa- 
triotism, morality and religion as the cause of democratic lib- 
erty. 

Nature itself is democratic, because it is an universal leveler. 
The sciences are also democratic, because they, too, are leveling 
all factitious distinctions, and are forcing the world on to a no- 
bler destiny. The steam engine is democratic, because its iron 
arms are thrown around all classes, and knows no caste or con- 
dition among men; and electricity has written the word "Liber- 
ty' 7 above all the thrones of all the empires, because they have 
been weighed in the balances and found wanting, and because it 
shines, like God's great luminary, for one and all. God intended 
all mankind to be free. He never intended one man to own an- 
other, or men to oppress one another unjustly. Oppression every- 
where is crumbling. Every sound principle in the warp and 
woof of the human race is at work in behalf of universal free- 
dom, and in the fullness of time it will come. (Applause.) 



436 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



The latter half of the nineteenth century, my friends, has de- 
veloped a list of chieftains and warriors whose suns will never 
set; and it is now a mooted question whether the world has ever 
seen their like. Salamis and Trafalgar fade into littleness when 
compared with Manilla and Santiago. Commodore Dewey 
made himself an Admiral by his great victory at Manilla, and 
"the peerage", or its equivalent, which Lord Nelson claimed for 
victory at Trafalgar, is at the Admiral's command, and at last 
he, like Nelson, will be laid to rest among the greatest of the 
nation's dead. 

The battle of Manila stands to-day, my countrymen, and 
perhaps will ever remain, the most wonderful naval battle of all 
history and all times. (Applause.) That battle made the United 
States powerful and strong, and it made Dewey great; and if it 
were possible for them to speak, the models of heroic excellence 
and the apostles of civil and religious liberty of all the centuries, 
would arise from the shades of the illustrious dead and call Ad- 
miral Dewey blessed for the uplift he, in that battle, gave to the 
entire human race. By that victory at Manila, Spain went 
down and liberty went up. By it ten million Filipinos were 
made freemen, but some how they do not seem to have intelli- 
gence enough to grasp it. By it Democratic government was 
given an impetus which will drive it ultimately around the 
globe. By it true religion has lighted a torch that, under God, 
will never be extinguished; and by it the doorway to more than 
one nation was unlocked to civilization's forward march in 
broadening and beautifying and ennobling the world. (Loud 
applause). 

My fellow-citizens, the renown which Admiral Dewey in that 
single battle won, rises in majesty above all common levels, re- 
minding one of the cloud-capped towers of the Alps, as the 
travelers at their bases have seen them bathed in the morning 
sunlight, and kissing the skies with which they seemed to hold 
communion; or to come nearer home, he stands above the level 
of ordinary heroes, as the highest peaks of the Alleghenies rise 
above the waters of the Ohio which lave the border of this re- 
nowned old city where we are to-day assembled. (Applause). 

It was eaid that if Trojan found Pliny, Marcus Aurelius would 
not need historian, biographer nor eulogist; and it can be truly 
said that Admiral Dewey needs none of these in this and all 
other civilized portions of the earth. His name is written in 



Address of Welcome on Dewey Day 



4H7 



imperishable letters all over this proud land of the free, and 
his fame is inscribed upon the hearts of all his countrymen. 
(Applause). Admiral Dewey has erected his own monument, 
and when he is called to a brighter home (which all of us trust 
will not be for many years to come), the American nation, 
which above all others honors patriotism and genius and vir- 
tue and liberty and truth, will, with their tears, keep the grass 
green which shall cover his grave forever. (Loud cheers). 

Admiral Dewey, on behalf of all the people of the State of 
West Virginia, I extend to you a hearty and generous welcome 
to our midst. (Prolonged cheering.) 



CHILDREN'S HOME SOCIETY OF W. VA. 

Remarks of Governor Atkinson at the Fourth Annual Meeting 
of the Same, February 28, 1900. 



Ladies and Gentlemen :— 

This is the fourth annual meeting of the Children's Home So- 
ciety of West Virginia, which has been duly chartered by the 
Legislature of the State. Although it is yet quite in its infancj 7 , 
it is growing rapidly, and is doing a vast amount of good. As 
you all know, there is not a portion of our domain but con- 
tains a large number of hopeless, hapless, and helpless children. 
Some of them are orphans. Some of them have parents yet 
alive, but are really in worse condition than if they were in or- 
phanage. These children should be provided for. Some of the 
States have Children's Homes, which are kept up at State ex- 
pense, for the purpose of providing for such children as I have 
mentioned. Other States have private institutions, where pro- 
visions are made by benificent people to care for indigent, help- 
less children. West Virginia has a few of these private homes, 
but, as you all know, they only reach a few, while the many are 
dependent upon the general charity of the people where they 
are found. 

This organization is based upon common sense principles- 
Instead of massing children together in Children's Homes, which 



438 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



are kept up at private or public expense, the plan of this So- 
ciety proposes to find homes first, and then to select children 
to suit them, which children, according to the rules of the So- 
ciety, are regularly adopted into the different families where 
they are taken, and, necessarily, are better cared for and grow 
up to be more useful and intelligent citizens than if they were 
confined in regular Children's Homes. I have looked into the 
workings of the plan upon which our Society is based, in other 
States, and I find that it is working well everywhere that it has 
been tested. As I have already stated, it certainly is the nat- 
ural method, and ought to be encouraged by all good people. 

Our State Superintendent will render to-night a statistical 
report of his work, which I am satisfied will show you that all 
I have said is true, and even more. It is not my purpose to de- 
tain you with any extended remarks on this occasion, for the 
reason that we have with us a gentleman from the sister State 
of Kentucky, who has been connected with a Society similar to 
ours for a number of years past, and who has been brought 
here for the purpose of telling to you his experiences, and to ex- 
plain to you the advantages aud benefits of an organization 
like this. 

One of our distinguished West Virginia fellow-citizens (the 
Hon. Henry G. Davis) has donated to the Society $ 10,000 for 
the purpose of purchasing a temporary home for children in 
transitu and also for a home for the Superintendent and his 
assistants. He has not only given to us the sum which I have 
mentioned, but he agrees to pay $ 1,000 per year towards its 
support. It is not presumed that this home will contain, at 
any one time, more than four or five, or perhaps six or eight, 
children. Sometimes we find a greater number of children than 
we can secure homes for. We must, of course, take care of them 
until proper homes can be found. No child is given to any in- 
dividual except that individual signs a regular agreement to 
adopt the child and educate it as if it were his own, and if, at 
any time, he is found derelict in his duty towards the child, our 
contract gives us the right to take possession of the child and 
turn it over to a more deserving family. 

We will first hear the report of the General Superintendent, 
and afterwards you will be addressed, I am sure most satisfac- 
torily, by the Rev. Mr. Shoesmith, of the State of Kentucky. 



Revokes Commission of Samuel T. F-outy. 



439 



EXECUTIVE ORDER. 

Removing a Notary Public from Office. 

Whereas, It has come to my notice through the Hon. E. A. 
Hitchcock, Secretary of the Interior, that one Samuel T. Fouty, 
a Notary Public of the County of Wood, has been guilty of 
gross malfeasance in office, in that he received from one Thomas 
C. Grewell the sum of $ 55.00, and Mary E. Doyle, the sum of 
$55.00, they being pensioners under the United States Govern- 
ment, under false pretenses made to them; and, 

Whereas, The evidence furnished the Hon. Secretary of the 
Interior by the Hon. Commissioner of Pensions, clearly estab- 
lishes the guilt of the said Samuel T. Fouty, as above stated; 

Therefore, I, Geo. W. Atkinson, Governor of the State of 
West Virginia, by the authority vested in me under Section 10 
of Article 7 of the Constitution of West Virginia, hereby revoke 
the Commission of the said Samuel T Fouty as a Notary Pub- 
lic in and for the County of Wood, in the State of West Vir- 
ginia. All acts, therefore, of the said Fouty as a Notary 
Public, on and after this date, are null and void. 

Given under my hand and the seal of the State, this the 3rd 
day of March, A. D., 1900, and in the thirty-seventh year of the 
State. 

Seal. G. W. Atkinson, 

Governor. 

By the Governor: 

Wm. M. 0. Dawson, 
Secretary of State. 



THE VIRGINIA DEBT CONTROVERSY. 



Executive Mansion, 

Charleston, W. Va., 

March 3, 1900. 

To the Baltimore Sun, 

Baltimore, Md. 

After West Virginia was admitted as a State, the State of 
Virginia apportioned to West Virginia one-third of its then ex- 



440 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



isting debt, which was about $15,000,000, and issued West 
Virginia certificates for that amount, without any authority 
from the State of West Virginia. West Virginians generally claim 
that they paid about one-third of the taxes of the old State for 
nearly one hundred years, and received in the way of public im- 
provements, comparatively nothing. In fact, all the benefits 
we received were two or three dirt turnpikes, a small appro- 
priation for the Insane Asylum at Weston, and the expenditure 
of a small sum of money in grading a few miles of track in 
Cabell County, which is now a part of the C. & 0. Kailroad 
system. If it be true that what is now the territory of West 
Virginia paid something like one-third of the taxes to carry on 
the State Government for the period I have stated, and receiv- 
ed but little benefit from the investments which became the 
bonded debt of Virginia, coupled wit h the further fact that when 
the State was divided the old State kept practically all of the 
assets, then, if this be true, it seems to me that West Virginia 
does not legitimately owe any part of the Virginiadebt. If our 
State is to be required to pay one- third of the debt of Virginia 
because we composed about one-third of the territory of the 
State, then, upon the division of the State, we would certainly 
be entitled to one-third of the assets, as well as one-third of the 
improvements generally, for which the debt was created. 

When West Virginia was organized, it was understood that 
our State was to pay her legitimate proportion of the 
Virginia debt, and our Legislature directed the appoint- 
ment of commissioners to confer with the Virginia author- 
ities, with a view of arriving at a fair adjustment of the debt 
between the two States. The commissioners sent by West Vir- 
ginia to Richmond were not recognized by the Virginia author- 
ities, and the old State therefore refused to enter into negotia- 
tions with the West Virginia authorities to arrive at a proper 
adjustment of the question at issue. If, after a careful investi- 
gation of all the expenditures which went to create the $45,000,- 
000 debt of Virginia, and the taking into consideration how 
and where the public funds were expended, it can be shown that 
West Virginia ow r es any equitabie part of the debt, I have no 
doubt but that our people will agree to pay the same. It was, 
however, evident to all intelligent West Virginians that the old 
State had no right to issue West Virginia [certificates, under 
any circumstances, nor will they admit that simply because 



W. Va. a Good Place to Invest Capital. 



441 



West Virginia embodied about one-third of the territory of the 
State, that she should therefore pay one-third of the debt. 

Feeling; as I now do that West Virginia does not owe legiti- 
mately any part of the Virginia debt which amounts to any- 
thing, I certainly would not recommend the Legislature to pay 
any part of said debt. 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor. 



WEST VIRGINIA A GOOD PLACE TO INVEST 

CAPITAL. 



Executive Department, 
Charleston, W. Va., March 12, 1900. 

Mr. Will N. Vining, 

Care Supreme Court of Appeals, 
Austin, Texas. 
My Dear Sir— 

I own receipt of yourletter of theOth inst.,in which you make 
inquiry relative to investments in West Virginia. Our State, 
perhaps, is developing more rapidly than any other State in the 
Union. Our greatest industries are coal, oil, gas and timber. 
We, nevertheless, have good farming territory, although the 
country is hilly and broken. Still, our soil is especially adapted 
to fruit growing, stock raising, and, in a general way, it pro- 
duces all the cereals in good quantities, because the soil is rich. 
Coal lands can be purchased from $5.00 an acre up to $1,000. 
The cheap lands, of course, are distant from railroads, but con- 
tain as good coal as those along the railroad lines already in 
operation. If you or your friends desire to invest any money 
in lands with a view of letting the lands lie for five or ten years, 
I can refer you to parties who will sell you the very best of coal 
properties at $5.00 an acre, which, within five years, will be 
reached by railroads. When the railroad passes through such 
lands, the properties, perhaps, will increase one hundredfold. 
Coking coal lands, situated upon railroads, can not be bought 
at all, but you can go back five to ten miles from the railroad, 
which would have to be reached by a branch line, and buy good 



412 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



coking coal land from $1.0.00 to $25.00 an acre. We have a 
greater variety of coals in West Virginia by far than any other 
State in the Republic. 

Timber is also one of our great industries, and there is no 
question as to the grade and quantity of our timber. The 
value of timber lands is fixed entirely on the basis of its loca- 
tion. If along a railroad, or close to it, you will have to pay 
from $10.00 to $25.00 an acre for the timber alone, because our 
timber is large and valuable. 

A large portion of our State is underlaid with oil and gas. 
Engaging in either of these businesses is accompanied by a con- 
siderable risk, as you may be within what is deemed good oil 
and gas territory, and bore a well, which will cost you from 
$3,000 to $5,000; and yet strike no gas or oil. I have known 
wells to be put down one hundred feet apart, one of which will 
be a producer and the other what we term a "dry hole". Our 
production of oil last year was in the neighborhood of 19,000,- 
000 barrels. 

If you want to engage in the colliery business, I can refer you 
to parties here who will furnish you all the lands you want, and 
all the assistance within their reach. The same may be said of 
the lumber business. Our product of coal last year ran up to 
over 18,000,000 long tons, and our coke 2,250,000 tons. I am 
safe in saying to you that about $25,000,000 of outside capi- 
tal came into West Virginia during the last twelve months, so 
you see we are progressing, and if you desire to come among 
us, I am satisfied you will not make any mistake. Our laws are 
rigidly enforced, our schools are good, and so are our church 
privileges; taxes are reasonable, and you will not be burdened 
on that account. 

Any further information you may desire will be forthcoming 
at your will. 

Very respectfully yours, 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of West Virginia. 



[Note — This is a sample of hundreds of similar letters written by the Governor, in 
answering inquiries as to West Virginia development and prospects.] 



An Appeal to the Charitable People op W. Va. 



443 



AN APPEAL 

To the Charitable People of West Virginia— A Statement 
by the Governor. 



To the Citizens of West Virginia :— 

This office is in receipt of a communication from the "Chris- 
tian Herald," published in New York, a newspaper of general 
circulation and of unquestionable responsibility, in which the 
statement is emphasized that a large portion of the population 
of India are in a starving condition, resulting from a famine, 
which, in the dispensation of Divine Providence, seems to have 
fallen upon that country and its inhabitants. The "Christian 
Herald" is now loading two ships with supplies for the starving 
people, male and female, old and young, in different sections of 
far away India. This great religious newspaper asks me to 
officially and publicly present the facts to the citizens of our 
State. 

While a famine is impossible in a country like our own, and 
while we are now in the midst of plenty and prosperity on every 
hand, we should be willing and ready, it seems to me, to re- 
spond to the call of the "Herald" to send to the publishers of 
that paper such sums of money as we can conveniently spare 
from our own needs, to be expended in the purchase of food and 
clothing for the tens of thousands that are now in the actual 
throes of starvation in India. The "Christian Herald" is entire- 
ly responsible, and any funds sent to that newspaper will be 
honestly and judiciously expended; and I trust that it will be 
the pleasure of a large number of West Virginians to promptly 
respond to its call for charitable aid. If action is taken at all, 
it should be done with great promptness, as the two ships re- 
ferred to will sail very soon with relief supplies. 

Very respectfully, 

G. W. Atkinson, 

Governor of West Virginia. 

Charleston, W. Va., April 19, 1900. 



444 Public A-DDUESSEs, &o., op Gov. (i. W. Atkinson. 



W. VA. GRAND ARMY. 

Address of Gov. Geo. W. Atkinson, A. B., at the Annual Meet- 
ing of the Grand Army Posts of West Virginia, 
April 25, 1900, at Moundsville. 



(From the Moundsville Daily Herald. > 

soldieks of the grand aemy of the republic, ladies and 
Gentlemen :— 

I assure you it is a very great pleasure to me to meet with 
you to-day, and to talk to you for a few minutes here in the 
"Mound City" of our prosperous "Mountain State." It is both 
pleasant and profitable for the old soldiers in the war of the 
Rebellion to meet and greet one another on occasions like this. 
Such gatherings of comrades as this recall the solemn scenes of 
1861 to 1865 like dreams of the almost forgotten past; and 
yet the experiences of that awful conflict can never be entirely 
forgotten. The fangs of that contest have all been drawn, and 
we are glad of that, but the scars are with you yet. The curved 
spines, the gray hairs and the empty sleeves tell a solemn story 
that cannot be depicted in words, however eloquent they may 
be. (Applause). Many of your comrades have answered the 
last roll-call, but we rejoice to-day that a goodly number of 
you are with us yet. (Cheers). 

On an occasion like this, one must be pardoned for retro- 
specting, at least in a limited way. I am your friend, and you 
know it, and this gives me license to talk as I feel. Just thirty- 
nine years ago more than ten thousand bugle blasts caused a 
half million "Boys in Blue" to forsake homes and loved ones in 
answer to the Nation's call to arms. When the brass bands, 
fifes and drums rolled out their martial strains of music, how 
the loyal hearts were thrilled and the thousands rallied to the 
summons. (Cheers). As another has said, in substance, "men 
kissed their wives, and their daughters, and their sweethearts, 
and went forth to do and die." They affectionately kissed and 
parted, and many of them forever. We see them part, wife and 
lover, and follow them to the gates weeping. We see them dis- 
appear down the lanes beneath flaunting flags and on through 



Address to W. Va. Grand Army. 



445 



towns and cities to fields of glory to defend their country and 
its institutions. In hospitals and prisons they suffered. 
On fields of battle they met the foe, and beneath God's sunshine 
and stars, they bore aloft our Nation's starry ensign. (Ap- 
plause). Their sacrifices and sufferings cannot be written. 
Language is totally inadequate to express even a faint descrip- 
tion of their sacrifices for mankind. A republic versus mon- 
archy was on trial, and it was then in the throes of a crucial 
test for existence. Their actions, and sacrifices, and sufferings 
settled the test forever that Republics can endure. The risk 
they ran for our Nation and its flag, as we consider it more calm- 
ly, causes us to love them more as the years roll on. We cher- 
ish the memories of their sacred dead, and feebly honor them 
by covering their graves with May -day flowers every 30th of 
May. All the world says the records these sainted soldiers 
made are as eternal as the stars. (Cheers). All the world 
crowns them patriots, and all thoughtful men uncover as the 
veteran processions pass, with their muffled drums and their 
arm-loads of garlands to scatter above the ashes of their silent, 
sleeping comrades. (Applause). 

There is no better title to enduring fame than the four years' 
services rendered by the faithful hosts of the "Boys in Blue." 
In honors truly to be envied, there is no roll-call, whether in 
the American Congress, the German Reichstag, or the English 
Parliament, comparable with the roll-call of our volunteer sol- 
diers at Missionary Ridge, Chickamaugua, Vicksburg, Bull Run, 
Antietum, Gettysburg, and Appomattox. I had rather my 
name was called as a private soldier for my country in these 
great engagemrnts than in any legislative body or ministerial 
cabinet on God's green footstool. (Cheers). Thus do millions 
to-day look upon the services rendered by the volunteer army 
of the Republic. It is thirty-five years since the great conflict 
ended, and it is only as the smoke and fog of battle pass away 
that we can clearly see the magnificent record these citizen sol- 
diers made. (Applause). 

We can now see plainly, at this distance from the war, that 
these soldiers in giving us but one flag, instead of two, one con- 
stitution, and a Nation united, they also gave us peace. They 
gave us enduring peace, because they gave us universal liberty 
in all the States. It has taken our people a full quarter- 
century to find out the true value of liberty, free labor, and 



446 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



free thought. We are just beginning to appreciate in its 
fullness, the true grandeur of a Republic under whose flag all 
classes and races of men can walk erect in the dignity of unre- 
stricted freedom. (Applause). Thank God, in our great coun- 
try no man owns another, and better than all, labor is forever 
free. (Cheers). At last we have learned the lesson, though it 
was written in blood, that labor is of God, and that nothing is 
more sacred and more to be respected than honest, faithful 
toil. Labor is wealth, and man needs no better passport to 
fame than that he earns his living by the sweat of his face. 
(Cheers). Our soldiers of the late war, though fratricidal as it 
was, should want no greater title to nobility than that they 
gave to the American people universal liberty, which in turn 
made labor free and made thought free also. (Applause). 

Free labor and free thought, my friends, have done more than 
all things else to elevate mankind. They have chained the 
lightning, conquered steam, bridled machinery, broken down 
caste, and uplifted man, They have treed out the brain, whet- 
ted the intellect and broadened the outlook of all our people. 
They are the fulcrum and the lever which, under God, have 
raised ours until it now is the foremost and tallest nation on 
the earth. (Applause.) Any man who does not believe in free 
labor and free thought is an enemy to human progress. Any 
man who does not thank our soldiers for breaking down the 
middle walls of the partition of prejudice and letting in the un- 
broken rays of righteousness and truth, is an enemy to himself 
as well as to all mankind. We rejoice to-day that ours is the 
foremost free nation beneath the circle of the sun; and our sol- 
diers made it such. (Cheers.) Col. Ingersoll aptly said: ''They 
rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulcher of prog- 
ress." It always requires revolutions to accomplish works that 
are overwhelming and great. It has always been so, and it al- 
ways will be so in both Church and State. It was so in Greece, 
and Rome, and Russia, and Germany, and France, and England, 
and it was no exception in our own fair land. Minor questions 
can be arbitrated, but great upheavals alone can come as the 
result of war. For four thousand years, China, the richest, lar- 
gest and most populous empire beneath the stars, locked her 
gates against civilization and progress; and with six months of 
war, the half-civilized Japanese, a third-rate dominion, broke 
down these barriers, and let in the light that China had sworn 



Address to W. Va. Grand Army. 



447 



should never shine above her people. For such achievements as 
these, and for the great work that our own army wrought, every 
man who loves liberty and light should echo the utterance of 
the eloquent Ingersoll: "I have one sentiment for the soldiers 
living and dead— cheers for the living and tears for the dead. 
The dead and the living, like a bow of peace, spaus and arches 
all the clouds of war." There is a volume in that utterance, 
and I adopt it as my own sentiment to-day. (Loud cheers.) 

There is another fact to which 1 desire briefly to allude, and that 
is, that the wounds of the war in our country have been complete- 
ly healed. The soldiers who wore the gray are now beginning 
to feel, and see, and understand that the soldiers who wore the 
blue saved the South as well as the North. There are no better 
loyalists to-day than the soldiers of the Southland. (Applause.) 
"The Blue and the Gray" are clasping hands across the deep, 
broad chasm that once divided them, which it was for years 
claimed by many of our people could never be arched. But it 
is now being arched by the brilliant bow of fraternity, and love, 
and enduring peace. (Loud applause.) 

The war is over and Father Time 
Has cleared the strife away — 

And scattered golden sunbeams 
Where once dark shadows lay. 

The h)roes sleep: oh, let them rest! 
Don't take their fame away, 

For glory marks each sacred spot- 
Where sleep the "Blue" and "Gray". 

Each fought for what he deemed was right, 

Each heart was brave and true, 
And honor marks the paths they trod, 

Alike— the "Gray" and "Brae". 
And angels hover o'er the scenes 

Where these brave heroes lay, 
And we decorate the graves of all, 

Whether they wore the "Blue" or "Gray"- 

My countrymen, we are beginning to feel that there is no 
North, no Sonth. Sectionalism bothers us no longer and is now 
a thing of the past; and we rejoice that it is so. Co-operation 
is the controlling spirit of the present, and the soldiers of both 
armies are leading on. All ideal citizens are workers. The hand 
that is hardened by toil is an honest hand. (Applause.) There 
are but two classes of men in a republic— workers and shirkers. 
No man is honest who does not toil. The workers of the North 
and the workers of the South join hands in helping one another 



448 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



on. There is true fellowship in that. All workers should be 
brothers, and should crowd the shirkers to the rear (Cheers.) 
In all hives, the workers kill the drones. The bees do it; and if 
a lazy drone, with two good legs, gets in the way of the driv- 
ing, working multitude, he should be crushed by the press. 
(Laughter.) Every avenue, in these free, pushing times, is open 
to all alike, and the war made it so. Education, enterprise, 
honesty, sobriety, labor — all are free. There is no proscription 
anywhere. The chain that bound the humble and the poor has 
been broken. The weak has been made strong, and the poor of 
the past are the rich of the present. Genius and labor produce 
wealth, and the patriots, North and South, will always see that 
it is properly protected. Anarchism will find no foothold here. 
They say they will blow us up. We will blow them up. (Cheers.) 
The honest impulses of the American people will always swing 
them on the side of fair dealing between man and man. The 
men who attempt to steal any part of our great country, or 
shall try to steal a living out of it, will fall short of their un- 
dertakings. Our people, North and South, will see to it that 
all outsiders shall ''toat fair" or leave. (Laughter.) Our sol- 
diers preserved this country as our heritage, and we are going 
to keep it for ourselves and our posterity forever. (Applause.) 

There is another fact which I desire to mention to-day, my 
friends, because it is one of the live questions of the hour. It is 
this: If the Government had the right to require men to serve 
in its army, it is honor bound to protect them in their declin- 
ing years. (Cheers.) A Government that does not protect the 
men that protected it is only a government in name. Our 
soldiers from '61 to '65 were the Government. In those trying 
hours in the life of the Republic our army was our only stay. 
The soldiers were the Nation then, and now they are the Na- 
tion's wards; and it is the few and not the many who have the 
temerity to say that they shall not be munificently cared for 
now, as their ranks are thinning out in the quick-step march 
they are making towards life's golden sunset yonder in the 
west. (Loud cheering.) 

Occasionally we hear a whine from some cynibling-headed, 
lily-livered chump about our soldiers drawingpensions. (Laugh 
ter). Let them whine on. The time is at hand when every sol- 
dier who carried a saber or a musket ought to draw a pension. 
(Cheers). The charge has been made that thousands of fraudu- 



Address to W. Va. Grand Army. 



449 



lent pensioners are on the rolls. There never was a baser 
slander uttered. After the .closest possible scrutiny of the pen- 
sion rolls, out of 940,000 pensioners thirty-nine alleged frauds 
were discovered. This was less than one in 25,000; and it 
proves that the surviving veterans of the war are more hon- 
est than the twelve Apostles who followed our Savior through 
his ministry on the earth. (Loud cheers.) 

Soldiers of the Grand Army, let not your hearts be troubled. 
Amid the clash of battle you trusted your country, and it is 
going to trust you. (Applause.) The great mass of the peo- 
ple are with you and behind you. You stood as a wall of iron 
before shot and shell, and the American people will stand as a 
wall of protection around all of }^ou. (Cheers). You have our 
sympathy, but you deserve more than that. Sympathy is a 
comfort, but it will not keep the wolf from the old., decrepid, 
sick man's door. (Cheers.) Every soldier will be granted a 
pension from the Government commensurate with the services 
he rendered and the sacrifices he made; and in addition to this, 
he will have,— indeed, he now has, — the sympathy of the loyal 
millions whose arms are thrown around him as he is rapidly 
marching towards his final camping ground. (Prolonged 
cheering.) 

I wish I had time to pay a proper tribute to the loyal, patri- 
otic, liberty-loving women of the Republic. (Applause). When 
the war clouds hung like a midnight pall and the Nation was 
trembling in the balances, these loyal women were its truest 
friends, and stood closest to our soldiers on the tented field. 
But for their devotion and support in those trying hours no 
one can tell what the result might have been. They were mes- 
sengers of mercy on every field of battle, caring for the wounded 
and aiding in burying the dead. (Cheers). They will never be 
forgotten while American history is read. The records they 
made were not those like Zenobia and Aspasia and Cleopatra 
and Semiramus, but like Debora and Ruth and Cornelia, whose 
ruling purposes in life were to make themselves useful instead 
of renowned. (Applause). Good souls! many of them are 
gone from the throng of the living, but they left behind them a 
halo of light which will shine brighter and brighter until "the 
perfect day." (Cheers). 

My fellow citizens, the war with Spain and the one now going 
on in the Phillipine archipeligo,have, in a short space of time, 

29 



45 ) Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



done more than the work of the previous generation; to cause 
all the American people to fully appreciate the services rendered 
the Nation by the Federal soldiers from 1861 to '65. The 
people can now see the value of that fratricidal war, and none 
see it more clearly than the men who wore the gray. This 
should be, and is I am sure, a gratification to all of you. (Ap- 
plause.) All of us rejoice to-day that the South and the North 
are one and inseparable, and that 4 ''Old Glory" waves triumph- 
antly to-day over many islands in the seas, which were wrested 
from Spain by soldier patriots from every portion of our great 
Republic. ( Applause.) The United States is widening the scope 
of its influence and power. It stands for universal freedom. It 
stands for equal rights before the law. It stands against op- 
pression and for the oppressed wherever its navy splits the 
waves of oceans and seas. It stands for education and civiliz- 
ation. It stands for an open Bible. It stands for free thought 
and free speech; and it will thus continue to stand in the future 
as in the past; and ten million fighting men are at its command 
to make good its promises to mankind. (Loud applause.) We 
have owned Islands ever since the British surrendered at York- 
town. We own more of them now. and we are going to hold on 
to them "sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish.''' (Ap- 
plause.) Our men behind the guns know what they are doing. 
The great Nations are satisfied that we are ''some body." 
Sentimentalists cannot shake our faith in ourselves or dampen 
the loyalty of our American people. We are at the front to 
stay. Our flag will never be lowered except by American hands 
at home or abroad. (Prolonged Applause.) We are going to 
construct the Nicaraugua Canal, and then build a sufficiency of 
American ships to carry our own products over all the seas. 
We are following Thos. Jefferson's teachings to reach forward 
and out. We are going to expand wide enough and big enough 
to hold our own with the biggest Nations beneath the stars. 
(Applause.) The American people are neither hide-bound nor 
timid. They never yet trampled upon any other Nation's 
rights, and never will; but they respect themselves, and they 
mean to see to it that others shall respect them also. (Loud 
cheers.) We are singing the song of liberty wherever our ships 
sail and our flag floats, and other progressive peoples will take 
it up, and will ultimately carry it to the earth's remotest bounds. 
(Loud cheers.) It is catching. It is in the very air we breathe. 



Address to W. Va. Grand Army. 



451 



It is spreading. Slavery is going— gone! God intended all peo- 
ples to be free, and all of the Monarchies are now loosening their 
grip upon their subjects. The United States is the flag-ship in 
the procession that is leading on to victory. (Loud applause.) 
The United ^States is setting the world a higher example of 
National duty than has hitherto been known. We as a Nation 
have never sought war, and we are not seeking it now. Because 
the fathers of the Republic had no foreign policy, is no reason 
why we should not have one in our day and generation. 
Civilization certainly should have right of way over barbarism 
in all lands. We are Anglo-Saxons, and the Anglo-Saxon race 
will never lay down its weapons until it establishes the blessings 
of universal freedom in all countries that seek to come under 
the shadow of the American flag. (Loud applause). I thank 
you, my fellow-citizens, for hearing me so long. (Prolonged 
cheering). 



GENERAL GRANT DAY. 

Remarks of Governor Atkinson before the Americus Club at 
Pittsburgh Pa., April 27 \ 1900, General Grant-Day. 



Mr. Toastm aster and Gentlemen: 

Peerless alike in camp and cabinet wasUlyses S. Grant. Sim- 
ple-hearted, unpretentious, retiring, conscientious, self-poised, 
heroic, and more than any other man of his time, he possessed 
the confidence of his countrymen. They showered upon him all 
the honors they could bestow, and rejoiced when potentates 
abroad uncovered before him. Faithfully and reverently the 
American people followed him. They followed him irom Yicks- 
burg to Appomattox. They followed him from Appomattox 
twice to the Presidency, and with bowed heads amid tolling bells 
they followed him to the grave. They buried him beneath 
a widerness of flowers, and the grass around his tomb will be 
kept green forever with an admiring Nation's tears. 

General Grant was truly "the silent man of destiny." His un- 
paralleled career exemplified the truth that the shallows mur- 



452 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



mur while the deeps are dumb, and that a brawling mountain 
rivulet makes more noise than the majestic Mississippi. Like 
Julius Caesar and Napoleon, Grant was both General and states- 
man. He was the commander of men in legislative halls as well 
as on the battle field ; and of all Americans whose histories have 
been written, he was the nearest self-poised. If he bent at all in 
any direction, it was always toward the right; and better than 
everything beside, he never turned his back upon his friends. 
To them he was linked as with hooks of steel, and history has 
already rewarded him for that. More than any other American 
chieftain, he left his impress upon the times in which he lived. 
When he went down, a tall cedar fell, and like all other really 
great men, he grows taller and bigger as we get farther from 
him. Although victorious on a hundred battlefields, death 
conquered him at last; but he was the same true soldier to the 
end. Those who were with him in life's closing hours tell us that 
he dropped no tear and gave no sign that his splendid courage 
was not equal to his dreadful pain. Thus the great soldier, who 
had never before surrendered, answered to the Master's bugle 
call to enter the highest and noblest destiny of all. In this his 
courage and simplicity were sublime. 

General Grant, though dead, still lives; lives, we believe, in a 
better world; lives with a happier throng; lives with a nobler 
company; lives in history and song; lives as the Nation's great- 
est Captain; lives in the hearts of his countrymen forever. 

His carven scroll shall read: 

Here rests the valiant heart 
Whose duty was his creed, — 

Whose choice the warrior's part. 

Who, when the fight was done. 

The grim, last foe defied, 
Naught knew save victory won, — 

Surrendered not — but died. 



Speech as Temporary President Convention. 



453 



SPEECH 

Of Governor G. W. Atkinson, as Temporary President of the 
Republican State Convention at Fairmont, West Vir- 
ginia, May 8, 1900. 



(From Wheeling Intelligencer, May 9, 1900.) 

My Fellow Citizens of West Virginia: 

I thank you for the honor of being called to preside over the 
preliminary deliberations of this, the first State Convention in 
the campaign of 1900. We meet to-da}^ in this thriving and 
growing city, under auspicious circumstances. The outlook for 
the success of the Republican party this year is arched by an 
unerring bow of promise. West Virginia Republican voters are 
more enthusiastic than I have ever before known at the begin- 
ning of a campaign. They seem to be conscious of sure victory. 
Their faces are everywhere radiant with hope. They are full of 
courage and fight, and they will not lay down their arms until 
the setting of the sun on election day. These are favorable 
omens of success. For myself, my fellow citizens, I have not 
even the shadow of a doubt as to a satisfactory result. The 
Republican party has made good every one of its promises 
which were given to the country four years ago, and it, there- 
fore, enters this contest conscious of duties faithfully performed 
and with the belief, deeply grounded, that it is invincible, be- 
cause it has at all times dealt fairly with the people. 

As was expected at the close of the campaign of 1896, in which 
Free Silver was the issue, this year we would be confronted with 
something new, and we have not been disappointed. The Dem- 
ocratic party fought us with Free Trade until they wore them- 
selves out, and well nigh bankrupted the Government and the 
people. Then the}^ took up the free and unlimited coinage of 
silver, at a ratio of 16 to 1, and bhey went down under that; 
and now the} 7 have decided to make Expansion and Trusts their 
war cries, with Free Trade and Free Silver in the back ground 
and on the side. It makes no difference to us Avhat their hob- 
bies are or may be, we will meet them on the hustings, and will 
vanquish them again in the arena of free thought and free 



454 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



speech. Our West Virginia people haveb?come too well inform- 
ed and too well educated to be again led astray by any ignis 
fatuus or will-o'-the-wisp. For a while they allowed themselves 
to be carried away by passions, prejudices, and false promises, 
but it can never be done again. As Mr. Lincoln expressed it, 
"All of the people can be fooled part of the time, part of the 
people can be fooled all the time, but it is impossible to fool all 
the people all the time." We fasted for four years under Cleve- 
land Free Trade, and that is enough to last us for a quarter of 
a Century. We cannot easily forget the glowing promises that 
were unraveled before the country in 1892, and as long as those 
who lived through the catastrophe of that awful mistake remain 
among us, we will never repeat the experiment again. They 
promised us bread, and gave us a stone. They promised us 
fish, and they gave us a serpent. They promised us good times, 
and they gave us desolation and despair. They promised us 
prosperity, and gave us idleness and soup houses. They prom- 
ised us a Tariff for revenue only, and they gave us a Tariff for 
deficiency only. They promised us to till the National Treasury 
with money, and filled it instead with a vacuum so wide and 
deep that it will take years of Republican rule to restore the 
healthy conditions which existed when the Government was 
turned over to them. It is a well known fact that treasuries 
under Democratic management are always empty. The only 
way the Democratic party has ever furnished a surplus in this 
country is by borrowing it. as Mr. Cleveland did during his last 
Administration. 

Everybody knows that the Republican party is a party of the 
living, and not of the dead. To act. to assume responsibilities, 
to confront emergencies, to go at every problem to solve and 
settle it,— this is the genius of the Republicanparty. It despises 
evasion, it detests compromises, it rejoices in opportunities. 
Endeavor is its element, — opposition is its quickening spirit. It 
is the party for young men to live in. and for old men to die in. 
The Republican party keeps its face to the future, and grapples 
only with living issues, while the Democratic party, forever pro- 
testing, follows in its wake, and its dark and gloomy pathway 
is dimly lighted by the smouldering camp fires of the party of 
progress. Our party lives in thepresent, — theotherin the past. 
The Republican party has never failed to meet every issue 
squarely. It has never failed to fulfill all of its promises to the 



Sheech as Temporary President Convention. 



455 



people. Why, my friends, for more than a quarter of a Century 
nearly every line of American History is but the life story of the 
Republican party. 

THE PUERTO RICO TARIFF. 

My fellow citizens, as a result of the war entered upon with 
the loftiest purposes, and at the practically unanimous demand 
of the American people, without regard to party, faction or 
creed, we find ourselves in possession of the Island of Puerto 
Rico, the Phillipine Archipelago, and other Islands of the Seas. 
Necessarily these new possessions bring to us new privileges and 
new responsibilities which we are called upon to meet, and which 
we must meet in a spirit worthy of a great Government like our 
own. 

Hoibert, the teacher of the great Napoleon, once said that the 
question of raising revenue was like plucking a goose; that is 
to say, how to secure the greatest possible amount of feathers 
with the least possible amount of squalling. The new Govern- 
ment of Puerto Rico must have a large amount of revenue, and 
the question before Congress was how best to raise it. A duty 
of 15 per cent, was adopted to be levied upon all articles sent 
into the United States from the Island, which import duty, or 
tax as the Democrats are pleased to call it, is immediately re- 
turned to the Island to aid in maintaining its GoA^ernment. 
Ninety-five per cent, of the Puerto Ricans are poor, and there- 
fore have nothing to export, while the remaining five per cent, 
of the people are well-to-do farmers, who are engaged mainly 
in the production of sugar, tobacco and coffee, and are there- 
fore amply able to pay the 15 per cent, customs duty on these 
products. It seems to me that no one should complain of this 
method of taxation, inasmuch as all the money thus collected 
is turned back into Puerto Rico to be expended in its behalf by 
the local administrative Government of the Island. Moreover, 
this revenue provision is temporary, and not permanent. The 
law provides that whenever the Legislative Assembly of Puerto 
Rico shall have enacted and put into operation a system of 
local taxation to meet the necessities of the Government of 
Puerto Rico, by this act established, and shall, by resolution 
duly passed, so notify the President, he shah make proclama- 
tion thereof, and thereupon all Tariff duties on merchandise and 



456 Public Addresses, of Gov. G. \Y. Atkinson. 



articles going into Puerto Rico from the United States, or going 
into the United States from Puerto Rico, shall cease. 

If this plan had not been agreed upon, it being absolutely 
necessary to raise a revenue to pay the running expenses of the 
Government of Puerto Rico, our American system of Internal 
Revenue taxatian would have to be applied, or a local tax 
would have to be levied upon the personal and real property of 
the inhabitants of the Island, in the same manner that our own 
people in this country are taxed. The Puerto Ricans are unac- 
customed to such laws, and it would therefore be unpopular, 
and, more than that, it would be a burden upon the poorer 
classes, as it must be remembered that in Puerto Rico there are 
in operation a large number of small cigar and tobacco factor- 
ies and other small industries that would necessarily have to 
pay no small amount of the Internal Revenue taxes and local 
taxes as well. Under the present law this necessity is avoided 
Under it the poor people pay no part of the tax. The small 
planters pay no part of it. The main burden falls upon the 
large planters who do the exporting, and by those who sell their 
wares to Puerto Rico and who reap the profit of that trade. 

THE TRUSTS CONSIDERED. 

But, my fellow citizens, it is claimed by our Democratic friends 
that this plan for raising revenue was dictated by the tobacco 
and sugar trusts. This is not true. Common sense itself 
brands the charge as fallacious and false. The Trusts naturally 
wish to buy as cheaply as they can. They buy their raw mate- 
rials in large quantities, and no doubt plan to save, so far as 
possible, all expense for middle men. They would naturally, 
therefore, buy their raw materials as directly as possibly from 
the producers themselves. It is probable, therefore, that most 
of the raw sugar and tobacco now in Puerto Rico warehouses 
belong to the Trusts or their brokers. If they have already 
bought the sugar and tobacco now in the warehouses of Puerto, 
it would be manifestly to their interest to have these products 
admitted to the United States free of duty. In no way that I 
can see could it be profitable to them to have a tariff on these 
products. Reason dictates, therefore, that if these Trusts have 
any interest in the matter at all, they would naturally favor 
immediate Free Trade. Hence I say it is both unreasonable 



Speech as Temporary President Convention. 45 7 



and untrue that our Democratic friends should claim, as they 
are now doing, that the Puerto Rico Tariff bill was dictated by 
the Trusts. 

CONSTITUTIONAL ARGUMENT AGAIN RESURRECTED. 

A Democratic argument without ringing in the Constitution 
would be an anomaly indeed, and so they dragged it into this 
Puerto Rico Tariff question. They have taken up the old cry 
of John C. Calhoun when he sught to force human slavery into 
the then newly acquired territory of the United States, way back 
in 1847, when we first began to adopt the doctrine of National 
Expansion under a Democratic President, and they tell us now 7 , 
as they told us then, that the Constitution extends automati- 
cally over all territory belonging to the United States, and 
therefore the people of Puerto Rico have a Constitutional right 
to Free Trade with our Government. That doctrine w T as repudi- 
ated in 1847, and we repudiate it now. As Republicans, we pro- 
pose to stand with Daniel Webster and against John C. Calhoun, 
and with Abraham Lincoln and against Jefferson Davis. The 
Constitution of the United States extends only so far as it is 
carried by Congressional enactment, and not by its inherent 
force. This question, my countrymen, is one of the many great 
problems that was forever settled at Appomatox, and it cannot 
be galvanized into life again by the Democratic party in the 
approaching campaign. 

The more I have examined into this Puerto Rico Tariff mat- 
ter, the more I am satisfied that the plan adopted by Con- 
gress was the only safe and feasible method of raising the neces- 
sary funds to meet the wants of the Government of that newly 
acquired Island by the Government of the United States, and I 
am perfectly satisfied that the intelligent voters of the country 
will take the same view of this much discussed question when 
they give to it their deliberate, careful thought and intelligent 
investigation. 

EXPANSION AND IMPERIALISM. 

Men of West Virginia, many of you will remember that during 
the Civil War the Democratic party called Abraham Lincoln a 
rail splitter and a usurper. The}^ called Ulysses S. Grant a tan- 
ner. They called our soldiers "Lincoln hirelings.'' They called 



458 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



the Republican party an ''Abolitionist, Negro-loving organiza- 
tion." They called it from '61 to '65 a "Greenback'' party, and 
when we turned the greenbacks into gold, they called us "Gold 
Bugs." And now, since we are holding on to the islands we 
won by the war we did not seek, they are calling us "Imperial- 
ists." God bless them! let them call us what they please, be- 
cause they seem to get a vast amount of pleasure out of it. 
They are like the old farmer who was taken to task by a neigh- 
bor for allowing his wife to lick him daily with a broomstick. 
Said he: "Neighbor, that is all right. It doesn't hurt me a par- 
ticle, and it does Nancy Jane a mighty sight of good." Let 
them whine on. Meantime, we will, as a party, go straight for- 
ward, doing our full duty to our country as loyal patriots 
should do. They will find out later on that they cannot check 
the tide of human progress by calling the Republican party 
names. 

The fact is, my fellow citizens, Abraham Lincoln was the 
monumental "splitter" of the nineteenth century. He split the 
Southern Confederacy from stem to gudgeon, and he split the 
Democratic party into smithereens; and General Grant tanned 
their hides until they were as yellow as a pumpkin — and the 
God's truth is, the yellow is in them yet. The soldier of '61 to 
'65 is still standing on the bridge of the Ship of State, and he 
will continue to stand there until the old, water-soaked hulk of 
Democracy is sunk out of sight forever in the National harbor 
of Progress and Development, and Prosperity and Peace. Of 
course we are Expanionists; we do not deny the charge. Every 
living thing on the earth is expanding. It is only the dead, 
like the Democratic party, that cannot expand. West Virginia 
is expanding. The Republican party is expanding. Why, my 
friends, even Fairmont is expanding, because it is among the 
living, progressive, go-ahead cities of the State. Don't you 
know, my countrymen, that Washington was an Expansion- 
ist? Don't you know that in 1792 he laid the foundation for 
the acquisition of Oregon as an intregal part of our Republic? 
Jefferson, the patron saint of the Democratic party, was an 
Expansionist. He threw his great arms around Louisiana, 
and thus doubled the National domain. Jackson, another 
Democratic saint, was an Expansionist. James K. Polk, still 
another Democratic President, was an Expansionist. In short, 
it is a fact which cannot be denied that more than two-thirds 



Speech as Temporary President Convention. 



459 



of the territory which we have owned and held for half a cen- 
tury was added to the United States while the Democratic 
party was in power. The large map which I have suspended 
on the wall in sight of all of you shows in detail when and by 
whom practically all of the territory now within our National 
domain, lying west of the Mississippi, was added to the Repub- 
lic, and all this was clone by the Democratic party. Still, we 
have the modern leaders of the grand old Democratic organi- 
zation, that has lived and nourished as one of the greatest 
political organizations the world has ever seen, charging the 
Republican party with Imperialism because simply it, as the 
party now in power, is endeavoring to hold on to the posses- 
sions won by the soldiers and sailors of the Republic under the 
leadership of Dewey, and Sampson, and Schley in the recent 
war with Spain. We, therefore, have the Democratic party of 
the present standing over against the Democratic party of the 
past — not because what we are doing is wrong in principle, or 
has not been endorsed by the leading lights of this country for 
a hundred years, but because they hope to realize some benefit 
from it in the campaign upon which we are now entering. Let 
me say right here, my fellow citizens, that they will fail in this 
attempt to deceive the people just as they failed in advocating 
Free Trade with foreign countries, and endeavoring to impose 
upon the great, progressive American Nation the free and un- 
limited manufacture of fifty-cent dollars as the only salvation 
of the country, which four years ago was suffering and starv- 
ing because of their mismanagement of National affairs. I say 
again, my friends, that they will fail in this just as they have 
failed in everything else they have undertaken since the true 
principles, doctrines and tenets of the Democratic party of 
Thomas Jefferson have been cast aside, and that historic old 
party has been ruled by a new set of men upon a new set of 
doctrines and a new set of ideas. 

My fellow citizens, the United States is widening the scope of 
its influence and power. It stands for Universalpreedom. It 
stands for equal rights before the law. It stands against op- 
pression and for the oppressed wherever its navy splits the 
waves of oceans and seas. It stands for education and civiliza- 
tion. It stands for an open Bible. It stands for free thought 
and free speech; and it will thus continue to stand in the future 
as in the past; and ten million fighting men are at its command 



4G0 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. VV. Atkinson. 



to make good its promises to mankind. We have owned Islands 
ever since the British surredender at Yorktown. We own more 
of them now, and we are going to hold onto them "sink or swim, 
live or die, survive or perish," Our men behind the guns know 
what they are doing. The great Nations are now satisfied that 
we are "somebody." Sentimentalists cannot shake our faith 
in ourselves or dampen the loyalty of our American people. 
We are at the front to stay. Our flag will never be lowered except 
by American hands at home or abroad. We are going to con- 
struct the Nicaraugua Canal, and then build a sufficiency of 
American ships to carry our own products over all the seas. AVe 
are following Thomas Jefferson teachings to reach forward and 
out. We are going to expand wideenoughandbigenoughtohold 
our own with the greatest Nations beneath the stars. The Ameri- 
can people are neither hide-bound nor timid. They have never 
yet trampled upon any other Nation's rights, and never will; but 
they respect themselves, and they mean to see to it that others 
shall respect them also. AVe are singing the song of liberty 
wherever our ships sail and our flag floats, and other progres- 
sive peoples will take it up, and will ultimately carry it to the 
earth's remotest bounds. It is catching. It is in the very air 
we breath. It is spreading. Slavery is going—gone! God in- 
tended all peoples to be free, and all of the Monarchies are now 
loosening their grip upon their subjects. The United States is 
the flag-ship in the procession that is leading on to victory. 
The United States is setting the world a higher example of Na- 
tional duty than has hitherto been known. AA r e as a Nation have 
never sought war, and we are not seeking it now. Because the 
fathers of the Eepublic had no foreign policy, is no reason why 
we should not have one in our day and generation. Civilization 
certainly should have right of way over barbarism in all lands. 
AVe are Anglo-Saxons, and the Anglo-Saxon race will never lay 
down its weapons until it establishes the blessings of universal 
freedom in all countries that seek to come under the shadow of 
the American flag. 

My little cymbling-headed Democratic brother, why don't you 
stop baying at the moon? You unhinged one side of your jaw 
last campaign howling for 16 to 1, — that is, for the unlimited 
manufacture of fifty cent dollars, and here you are again trying 
to unhinge the other corner of your jaw yelling about Expan- 
sion and Imperialism. Free Silver was bad enough to father, 



Speech as Temporary President Convention. 



4G1 



but Imperialism will make your party the laughing stock of the 
world. You now look back upon your 16 to 1 campaign of '96 
as a sort of a joke that you perpetrated on the country. You 
are sorry that you hooked onto that twaddle and nonsense, and 
a year or so from now yon will be sorrier still that you coupled 
up to the boogy-boo of so called Imperialism. Y^ou know as 
well as 1 do that there can be no Imperialism in a Republic. 
Even a Democratic ought to have sense enough to know that. 
It is therefore simply ridiculous to talk about it. The people 
are too shrewd to be deceived by such talk as that. You can- 
not catch a single vote by any such nonsense, and you will find 
it out to your humiliation and sorrow later on. 

How, my dear Democratic brother, don't you go off mad be- 
cause I am telling you of your weaknesses. I am not mad at 
you. I am your friend. Don't you believe that I am going to 
lay even the weight of a feather on the poor, sick, hip-shot, ring- 
boned, wind-broken and spavined Democratic party. I have 
not got the heart to do that. I feel like an old Irish friend of 
mine who had a very sick wife. She was suffering from consump- 
tion. One day he brought a Doctor to his home to diagnose her 
case. He very soon found out what was ailing her, and 
said, "Pat, I can do nothing to relieve her. Nothing will help 
her except to send her to a hot country." This statement 
astounded the good-natured Irishman, and he arose from his 
seat, went out into the wood yard, got an ax, returned to the 
room and walked up to the Doctor and said, "Doctor, you tell 
me that nothing will help her except to send her to a hot coun- 
try. Take this ax and hit her, for I ha ven't got the nerve to do 
it myself." I have too much respect and sympathy and ad- 
miration for the Historic old Democratic party to throw stones 
at it in an ugly and improper way, when, like the Irishman's 
wife, it is lying in the throes of death. Poor, dear old party! 
It is going,— gone. 

It is painful to the people of the United States to see the His- 
toric party of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and James 
Monroe and Andrew Jackson now being prostituted to Popul- 
ism and Anarchism. Prostituted to fifty cent dollars. Prosti- 
tuted to opposing that for which it was organized. Prostitut- 
ed against growth and progress. Prostituted against entering 
the high seas in competition with the great Nations of the world 
for the trade and commerce of the Nation. Prostituted to the 



462 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



rank of simply a protestant organization, always 'protesting 
against everything of real value to the Nation and the people. 
Shades of Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Jackson! what a 
change. There is now a new set of rulers in the saddle, but the 
good sense and calm judgment and the patriotism of the peo- 
ple of the Nation will unhorse them again. Fear not. The 
world is going forward, not backward. Don't allow yourselves 
to be deceived by the new campaign cry of Imperialism. Never- 
theless, I presume that the Democrats of West Virginia and all 
over the country will line up on this new issue, as they came up 
smiling for the now discarded doctrine of Free Silver at 16 to 1. 
As to this, they will find themselves in the attitude of Senator 
Thurston's calf story that he often tells in his political speeches. 
A boy, one day, was driving a three months old calf to a pasture. 
In the roadway he met up with a steer. The calf broke away 
from him and followed the steer. The boy ran, the calf ran, and 
he pursued the calf lickety-cut until his breath gave out, when 
he exclaimed, "Go it, darn you! You will find out your mistake 
when sucking time comes." 

WHAT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS DOIXC. 

My fellow citizens, the Republican party is going right on from 
conquering to conquest. It has kept every promise made to the 
people in its platform of 1896. Under McKinley the country 
has reached the high-water mark of progress. The United States 
is now leading the world in productive power. We are now ex- 
porting much more than we import. As the old Century goes 
out, the balance sheet of trade is very largely in our favor. For 
one hundred years the balance showed but $300,000,000 in our 
favor. That is to say, we only gained that amount in a full 
Century, while during the three } r ears of the present Administra- 
tion the actual balance in our favor is $1,400,000,000, or 
$1,100,000,000 more in three years than our entire gain dur- 
ing the preceding one hundred years, and yet the Democratic 
party wants a change. 1 will tell you, my friends, the level- 
headed, sensible people of this Republic are going to see to it 
that there shall be no change. It has been demonstrated twice 
within the last sixteen years that the Democratic party cannot 
successfully manage the affairs of this massive country. Why, 
my fellow citizens, it is so great a job that it is about all the 



Speech as Temporary President Convention. -±63 



Republicans can do to run it. We are now selling our products 
to all the Nations of the earth. McKinley 's Administration has 
changed the map of the world, and in the face of these facts, the 
Democrats say that McKinley ought to go out and Bryan 
ought to go in. You might as well go down yonder and at- 
tempt to dafn the Monongahela River with corn cobs as to try 
to prevent the re-election of President McKinley. And right 
here let me tell our Democratic friends another thing: They 
might as well stand on their heads and try to kick the stars out 
of the firmament as to try to defeat the Republican party in 
West Virginia in this year of grace and progress, A. 1). 1900. 
The great "Mountain State" cut the shore lines in 189(>, and 
launched out in the broad sea of Republican progress, and she 
is out there to stay. She hung her gate on the other post, and 
the combined strength of Bryanism, Populism, George Wash- 
ington-Auguinaldoism and the cowboy and the grasshopper 
catcher from the sage brush of the Northwest cannot lift it off 
its Republican hinges. West Virginia has developed more 
potently the past four years than she advanced during the 
quarter Century preceding, and, in the face of these facts, the 
Democrats say they ought to be allowed to grapple her by the 
throat again. Oh, no, gentlemen! the people have too much 
sense for that. 

For the first time in a quarter of a century West Virginia 
has two Republican Senators in the American Congress, and 
our public and private interests demand that they should stay 
there. Our senior Senator sits in the front rank of that great 
body of American statesmen, and because of his towering abili- 
ties has brought renown to the richest State beneath the stars. 
He is before the people this year for re-election. Let us as men 
of sense and men of business stand by him, shoulder to shoul- 
der, and place behin 1 him a Legislature so strongly Republican 
that Democratic skullduggery cannot dare to attemptto count 
him out, as they sought to do with our junior Senator, who, 
by the way, is already making for himself and his State a 
splendid record as a national legislator. Men of West Virginia, 
let there be no bickering over minor matters in our ranks this 
year. We have too much at stake to even dream about 
scratching a Republican ballot at the election in the last year 
of the century, as her chariot is grandly rolling behind the 
western hills. It behooves us to not only elect our State ticket 



464 



Public Addresses, &c, of G. W. Atkixsox. 



and re-elect Senator Elkins, bnt above everything else let us 
resolve to secure a majority in both branches of the Legisla- 
ture, so that we can wipe out the disgraceful, zig-zag gerry- 
mandered lines that have hung like a midnight pall over West 
Virginia during the past decade. Do you know, my fellow- 
citizens, that the Republican party has to roll up 10,000 ma- 
jority for its State ticket in order to carry the Legislature by a 
majority of one? This fact alone should brand the Democrats 
of West Virginia with everlasting infamy, and it has. 

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AXD THE TRUSTS. 

In order to hang to another scarecrow our Democratic friends 
are claiming that the Republican party belongs to the Trusts. 
This is not true. This seems to be an age of great combines. 
It is so in the Old World as well as the New. Capital is combin- 
ing everywhere. There are good Trusts and bad Trusts. The 
Republican party always has stood for the interests of the 
common people. It has never antagonized corporations. It 
believes in the doctrine of organized effort. It believes that 
capital has the same right to organize as labor has to organ- 
ize, but it has always opposed, and always will oppose, any 
combination of wealthy men that has for its object the tramp- 
ling upon the rights of the labor of the country. No country 
can be developed without corporations, and the Republican 
party therefore has always treated them fairly as it has always 
treated labor fairly. No political party can prevent wealthy 
men from combining together, because there are as many 
Democrats as Republicans in the so-called Trusts of the land. 
All the Republican party can do, therefore, is to oppose the 
bad Trusts and favor the good ones, as all good citizens ought 
to do. 

STATE MATTERS. 

My fellow-citizens, a word or two ajpout State matters and I 
am done. I am proud to inform you that the public affairs of 
the State are in a most satisfactory condition. During the 
past three years large sums of outstanding debts have been 
collected. The condition of the public treasury never was 
healthier. The penitentiary has been so splendidly conducted 
that it is now much more than self-sustaining. From a yearly 



Speech as Temporary President Convention. 



465 



outlay of many thousands it is now producing* an income of 
more than $15,000 every year. The State University, under 
Republican management, has more than doubled the number 
of students, and the faculty had to be proportionately in- 
creased. Its growth and success is unparalleled in the history 
of any other State. The Normal schools have all grown in size 
and efficiency. The public schools are all on the upward grade. 
The two insane asylums were never conducted so efficiently, 
cheaply and successfully in all the years of the past. Yast 
sums of money have been saved to the tax-payers by economic 
management in the different State offices at the capital. The 
State Superintendent of Public Schools has reduced the expendi- 
ture in printing alone the enormous sum of $21,315.46 during 
the three years he has been in office. The large amount oj 
$78,000 has been saved in public printing and in the purchas- 
ing of stationery for the use of the State for the same period. 
Railroads are building in almost every section of the State. 
Coal mines are opening at a rate most gratifying to all. The 
digging of the dusky diamonds from our hillsides are bringing 
fresh millions of "the needful" into the pockets of our people, 
and the amount increases wonderfully every year. The song 
of the saw is heard on every hand. The railroads are over- 
burdened with West Virginia freights. ' Our people are all em- 
ployed and they are contented and happy. More than $50,- 
000,000 of outside capital has been invested in West Virginia 
since the beginning of the present Republican administration, 
and still it comes. Times were never better, and business was 
never so good as now in the whole history of the State. There 
is a marked improvement along all industrial lines. We have 
added upwards of 500 mining and manufacturing industries 
since we assumed control of the State, which haved placed over 
15,000 of additional toilers on the pay rolls. In three years 
wages have increased more than twenty per cent., while the 
general condition of labor was never before so favorable as it 
is at the present time. Labor, at good wages, is in demand all 
over the State, and the hum of industry is heard on every 
hand. Why, then, should our voters even think of making a 
political change in the management of our business affairs? 
When the people fully understand the true situation of affairs 
they will say to the Democratic office-seekers, "Get thee behind 
us; we have sense enough to let well enough alone." 

20 



400 P ublic Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. YV. Atkinson. 



Yes. my countrymen, with a platform of principles upon 
which every good citizen can safely stand, and with candidates 
worthy of its great name and history, there will be welded to- 
gether into an unconquerable army a majority of the law- 
abiding, liberty-loving voters of this country, who in the fut- 
ure, as in the past, will stand bythepartyof Lincoln and Grant 
and Hayes and Garfield and Arthur and Harrison and McKin- 
ley,— the great Republican party which has, under God, made 
the United States the foremost Nation of tbe world. 



W. VA. EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION. 

Address by Governor Atkinson at the An nun! Convention, 
Parkersburg, W. Va., May 22, 7900. 



Subject assigned by the Association: "\\ est Virginia's Present and Prospective Pos- 
sibilities, and the Work of the Press in the Development and History of the State." 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:— 

When Pericles, who was perhaps the greatest of the Athenian 
statesmen, stood in the suburb of theKerameikos to deliver the 
funeral oration of the soldiers who had fallen in the expedition 
to Samos, he made use of that memorable occasion to describe 
the glory and grandeur of Athens. It was the first year of the 
Peloponesian war, and he spoke particularly of the Persian con- 
quests and the development of the culture and genius of the 
Greeks. In that unparalleled oration, he depicted in glowing- 
colors the true sources of national greatness, and enumerated 
the titles by which Athens claimed to be the foremost city of 
the world. He spoke of constitutional greatness; of democratic 
principles; of the supremacy of law, and the march of human 
progress. He spoke of the elegance of the private life of the 
people; the bounteousness of their luxuriant surroundings; of 
their systems of education; of their highly cultivated tastes; of 
their admiration and love of the chaste and the beautiful, and 
of their interchange of ideas and freedom of expression; but 
above all, he extolled the courage of the Greek soldiers in stand- 



Address \V. Ya. Editorial Association. 



467 



ing for principle, and in standing against all comers for their 
own homes and their own firesides. 

My fellow-citizens, we may in many respects adapt the expres- 
sions of Pericles as applicable to West Virginia and her people 
of to-day. If we cannot in everything measure up to Athens' 
standard under Pericles— which was indeed the golden age of 
Greece— in many things we are far in advance of her. In gen- 
eral education, in morals, in religion, in literature, in territory, 
in natural advantages and endowments, in the fertility of our 
soil, in science,— in short, with the exception of the various de- 
partments of the arts, we have extended into realms of which 
the learned Athenians never even dreamed. The whole world is 
now within our reach, and we have founded an empire within 
the limits of a State which fifty years ago was practically a 
wilderness, and we are now pouring fabulous treasures into the 
lap of commerce. And notwithstanding all this growth, we are 
now standing upon th# threshold of new discoveries and are 
at the entrance of an era of dazzling splendor which cannot fail 
to electrify the human race. The whole world is therefore radi- 
ant with hope and we should be happy that we are participants 
of its benefits, and happier yet that we are to take part in trans- 
mitting these benefits committed to our keeping, nndimmedand 
unbroken, to succeeding generations. Our pride should be for 
humanity and our joy for the world. Therefore amid all the 
wonders of past achievements and all the splendors of present 
success, we may turn with swelling hearts to gaze into the 
boundless future with the earnest conviction that it will, sooner 
or later, develop an universal brotherhood of man. 

But, my friends, I must confine nryself more closely to the 
theme assigned to me upon this important occasion, viz: 
"West Virginia's Present and Prospective Possibilities, and the 
work of the Press in the Development and History of theState." 

This is a great theme, and my only regret is that the time 
allotted for the discussion is too limited to allow me to enter 
into details. 

We had in West Virginia June 30, 1899, 2,967 miles of rail- 
roads in operation, which cost to construct them more than 
twenty-five million dollars, and the State receives a-half million 
dollars taxes from them every year. The fact is, my friends, 
the railroads pay nearly half of the taxes of the State. There 
are now under construction in different sections of the State 



408 Public Addresses, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



various railroad lines, which, when completed, will add another 
thousand miles to West Virginia's trackage. It is therefore 
safe to assume that within the succeeding twelve months, we 
will have 4,000 miles of rail roads within our borders. But 
better still is the fact that more than a score of additional rail- 
road companies have recently been chartered, and it is only a 
question of a brief period of time for every county within our 
Commonwealth to be traversed by the iron horse. Where the 
whistle of the locomotive is heard, the shriek of the panther and 
the scream of the eagle are heard no more forever. Civilization 
and development follow the iron rail as unerringly as the mag- 
netic needle reaches for the pole. Come railroads— go igno- 
rance and non-action. Come lightning express trains— go the 
haw-eater and the whipporwill. Come electric lights— gone the 
pine torch and the tallow-dip. Come education and intellectual 
development— gone the moccasin, the hunting-shirt, the shot- 
pouch and the lop-eared hound. The day is dawning, my 
countrymen, when all of the children of the State will be furn- 
ished ten months free school privileges every year, and all of 
them will be as neatly clad and cared for as the sons and 
daughters of the multi-millionaires of the land. Whatever, 
therefore, opens communication and creates interchange of 
ideas among all of the people, counteracts the sanguinary ten- 
dencies of mankind and broadens the field of usefulness of all. 

The year of 1899 was the high-water mark of the State in the 
production of coal and coke, which will ever be our principal 
industries. The number of days worked exceeded that of any 
previous year. The output of coal was nearly 19,000,000 long 
tons, exceeding the previous year by 2,500,000 tons. We are 
now the third State in coal production, and will take second 
place from Illinois within the next twelve months. Our output 
of coke for 1899 was 1,900,000 tons. As a coke producer we 
now hold second place, and we will distance Pennsylvania 
within the next five years. 

In oil production we are easily the first of all the States. We 
turned out last year upwards of 18,000,000' barrels of white 
sand oil, and the industry is with us but an infant yet. The 
trend of oil capital is all towards West Virginia, because oil 
men know that the 500,000,000 barrels of the oleaginous fluid 
which our State has already produced, is but a dipper full taken 



Address W. Va. Editorial Association. 



469 



from the oily ocean that lies concealed beneath our mountains 
and our hills. 

Gas is also by no means the least of our natural resources. 
We find it everywhere we dig. In fact, so much of it has been 
discovered that we don't know what to do with it. If the West 
Virginia natural gas could be properly utilized, it would furnish 
the necessary fuel to drive all the wheels on the Continent. 

We have within the limits of the ''Mountain State" perhaps 
8,000,000 acres of what may be practically termed virgin for- 
ests, which embrace all the classes of hard and soft woods. No 
other State, in my judgment, can offer opportunities to the 
lumbermen comparable with those of West Virginia. Already the 
song of the saw is heard in every vale that has thus far been 
penetrated by railroads. More railroads— more lumber camps, 
and more wealth for the citizens who hold the titles to these 
undeveloped forests. 

Viewed from an agricultural and horticultural stand point, 
our State is also making rapid progress. As our husbandmen 
adopt more intensive systems of cultivating fewer acres upon 
which paying crops are practically certain, they will soon be- 
come the happiest and most prosperous class of people within 
our borders. Our excellent climate, rich soil, nearness to the 
great markets, our very few crop failures and our great diver- 
sity of products, are a few of the many reasons why agricul- 
ture, if properly followed, will prove as profitable in West Vir- 
virginia as in any other State in the Union. 

The improvement in our domestic animals has also been very 
remarkable in the last few years, and the importance and desir- 
ability of procuring thorough-bred sires is becoming general 
throughout the State. With this improvement inbreeding has 
already come increased profits to the stock raisers, and the natu- 
ral result is the wiping out of mortgages and the liberation of 
the farmer from interest bearing burdens, which in the years 
agone were all too common for the common good. 

My fellow citizens, fruit growing is by no means an insignifi- 
cant industry in West Virginia. Apples, peaches, plums, grapes, 
and other smaller fruits are extensively produced in some local- 
ities. In round numbers, the state now has about 3,000,000 
bearing apple trees, producing annually about 5,000,000 bush- 
els; 470,000 bearing peach trees, producing annually about 
400,000 bushels; 130,000 bearing cherry treers, producing an- 



470 Public Addresses &c 3 of Gov. G. \Y. Atkinson. 



nually about 60,000 bushels; 25,000 bearing pear trees, pro- 
ducing annually about 2,000 bushels; 1,300 bearing apricot 
trees, producing- annually about 600 bushels; 35,000 bearing 
plum and prune trees, producing annually 4,000 bushels. 

There are in the State 30 or more commercial nurseries, cov- 
ering about 800 acres of land. This represents alone an in vest- 
ed capital of $ 135,000. Large numbers of men and women and 
children are employed in them. There are in addition 25 or 
more commercial florists, whose establishments represent about 
$80,000. 

The value of all this fruit aggregates $2,404,600. To it 
may be added #200,000 for garden crops, and #270,000 for 
miscellaneous crops, making a total of nearly $4,000,000 as 
the value of the annual fruit production of the State. 

Mr. President, I am informed by the State's Commissioner of 
Labor— a man thoroughly equipped for the position he tills— 
that there are marked improvements along all industrial lines 
in West Virginia. There were full five hundred more mining 
and manufacturing industries January 1, 1900, than were in 
existence at the beginning of the year 1897, with the invest- 
ment of several millions of additional capital and employing 
several thousand more laborers: and the advancement of 1899 
over 1898 is also most encouraging to all of our people. 

There have been no reductions in wages, but a continuous 
advance along the whole line of our mining, lumbering and 
manufacturing institutions. The increase in wage rates is 
about 20 per cent., and the increase of employees is about 35 
per cent, over the preceding year. Commissioner Barton offi- 
cially informs me that the general condition of labor in West 
Virginia was never before so favorable as it is at the present 
time. Laboring men are in demand all over the State. There- 
fore none need remain idle, except as a matter of choice. Per- 
manent places in railroad building, in lumber camps, and in 
coal mines are now going begging. More than a thousand coal 
miners could now secure good paying jobs in the coal regions 
of the State, if they would voluntarily take up their lamps, 
their shovels, and their picks. 

This, Mr. President, is only a mere outline of the present con- 
dition of West Virginia development. I speak authoritatively 
when 1 say that no other State in the Union is keeping pace 
with us. A carefully prepared estimate shows that in the 



Address W. Va. Editorial Association. 



-171 



neighborhood of $25,000,000 of capital was invested by out- 
siders in West Virginia industries during the year 1899. There 
is no boom about our growth. On the contrary, it is steady, 
solid, substantial. The value of our wonderful resources is not 
fictitious, but substantial and real. This being true, it is diffi- 
cult to determine what our possibilities as a State may be. It 
is enough to say. however, that they are great, and that no 
capitalist, therefore, can err by coming among us and lend a 
hand in our marvelous development. By so doing he will ad- 
vance his own interest as well as ours. 

And now, Mr. President, to what extent has the press of the 
State figured in its growth and progress? In 1638, Stephen 
Dave, an English printer, arrived at Boston, bringing a font of 
types, and in the following year set up a printing press at Cam- 
bridge. The first American publication was an almanac calcu- 
lated for New England and bearing the date of 1639. From 
this beginning the "art preservative" began to spread, and now 
we find a printing press in every town throughout the land. Sir 
William Berkeley, of Virginia, was lamentably wrong and nar- 
row in his outlook in 1671, when he said: "I thank God there 
are no free schools nor printing; and I hope we shall not have 
these hundred years: for learning has brought disobedience, 
and heresy, and sects into the world, and printing has divulged 
them and libels against the best government. God keep us 
from both.*' Looking back two hundred years we wonder that 
even then one could be so hidebound as to allow himself to ut- 
ter such a sentiment as that. The press is the leading educator 
in all lands to-day. It is essential to progress and good gov- 
ernment everywhere. It is a mighty lever to uplift all nations 
and all peoples. Newspapers and books have awakened the 
sleeping talents of millions, and have lifted them to higher con- 
ceptions of life and duty. Paper bullets of the brain are more 
powerful in the cause of truth than grape and canister belched 
from the muzzles of 76-pound Kruppguns. Xewspapersjare nec- 
essary for the advancement of the interests of all classes of 
men, and this is why they are now so numerous in the civilized 
sections of the world. Thirty years ago, when I was the pub- 
lisher of a weekly newspaper in West Virginia, such publications 
were by no means numerous, but now one or more are issued in 
every county in the State, and in every city of 5,000 inhabi- 
tants we have the daily newspaper carrying daily messages to 



472 Public Addresses &c., of Gov. G. YV. Atkinson. 



every household. These publications have attracted the atten- 
tion of men of means in other and older Commonwealths, and 
have done much to induce them to cast their lots with us in the 
wealthy "Mountain State'* of the great Republic. Too much 
credit and praise, therefore, cannot be given to the West Vir- 
ginia newspapers for what they have done and are now doing 
for our people, from the brickyards of Hancock county to the 
great Chattaroi, and from the coal fields of McDowell to the 
rock-crowned ridges of the Potomac. 

On the whole, my fellow citizens, all of us are justly proud of 
our Mountain State, because mountains are useful, healthful, 
beautiful, grand. They inspire their inhabitants to higher aims 
and purposes in life. They are essential to one's growth, deve- 
lopment and happiness. Man naturally longs for mountain air 
a.nd mountain freedom, because mountaineers are always free. 
Plow down your mountains and your hills, and the world will 
become a desert. They furnish fountains for our rivers, timber 
for our dwellings, stones for our quarries, fields for our herds, 
scenery for our people, minerals for our wealth; they break the 
deadly sweep of the tornado, and in ways without number they 
add to our comfort and enjoyment. Above the crests of our 
West Virginia hills shines the eternal sun as he rolls his fiery 
chariot across the sky. The silver streams wind their meander- 
ing ways down the slopes murmuring their endless songs. The 
majestic rivers sweep through the gorges, canyons and vales as 
they drive ever onward toward the seas. The music of the 
mountain songsters, as they leap from bough to bough of the 
forest trees along the hills, ceases only by the coming of the 
night. The roar of the cataracts lulls our people to restful re- 
pose and awakes them from their slumbers at the dawning of 
the morn. These majestic West Virginia mountains have with- 
stood the storms of the centuries, and will stand amid the sun- 
shine of millennial glory. Great cities, massive temples, granite 
cathedrals will sooner or later crumble into dust. The pyramids 
will finally fall. The Sphinx will be gnawed asunder by the 
tooth of time. The globe itself may ultimately melt with fer- 
vent heat. The sun may drag along the jarring heavens and 
refuse to shine. The light of the stars may pale away. The 
moon may roll up the rending sky and hang her latent livery 
on the wings of the dying night; but these West Virginia hills 
will continue to stand until the centuries cease to roll. 



Address W. Va. Editorial Association. 



473 



Mr. President, we have in the "Mountain State" no malaria, 
no grasshoppers, no mo.squitos, no razor-backed hogs, no 
cyclones, no deep snows, no long winters, no glaziers, and 
panthers and bears and wolves and foxes are rapidly going and 
are well nigh gone. We have no State debt; taxes are reason- 
able; churches are flourishing; our schools are as good as the 
best; we have over a million population; upwards of a million 
dollars in our treasury, and yet we have but fairly started into 
business. Talk about West Virginia, my brothers, she is to-day 
the rush-light star of the Republic. She is the coming Com- 
monwealth of the Continent. She is the hub of the universe in 
natural wealth. She is the flag-ship in the procession of pro- 
gress. She is the wonder of the century, and is the favored 
State for young men to live in and for old men to die in. She 
is the P]ldorado of the coming century. Her coal fields are 
richer than the gold mines of the Transvaal. Her timber is 
taller than the cedars of Lebanon, and her oil pools are more 
valuable than the gems of Golconda or the silver of the Klon- 
dyke. We have the watermellon and the pomegranite and the 
grape. We have the milk, the honey and the peach. We have 
tall men, sun-crowned and brawned and brave, and the pret- 
tiest, happiest, sweetest women beneath the stars. Our rock- 
ribbed mountains tower in the sunlight and catch the first rays 
of the rising and the last rays ot the setting sun. Our valleys 
are as charming as Scotland's vales, and our water is as limpid 
as the fountain of Treve at Rome, and he who tastes of it will 
return again. 

This, my friends, is West Virginia, and the newspapers more 
than any other factor have made it such. Hail, all hail to the 
printers art ! Hail and farewell ye knights of the tripod and 
the quill ! (Prolonged applause). 



DECORATION DAY MESSAGE. 



Executive Department, 
Charleston, W. Va., May 23, 1900. 

Editor "Post," 

Morgantown, W. Va. 
Responding to your courteous request for a short message 



474 Public Addresses &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



to the "old soldiers" for your "Decoration Day" edition, I beg 
leave to say that language is inadequate to express my appre- 
ciation of the sacrifices they made for mankind in the late Civil 
War. As we get farther from that awful conflict, we love them 
more and admire them greater. It is but a faint expression of 
gratitude for us to cover the graves of their dead with May- 
day flowers. There is no better title to enduring fame than the 
four years' service they gave to their country to preserve its 
constitution and its flag. 

Col. Ingersoll expressed a volume in this single sentence: 
"Our soldiers rolled away the stone from the door of the sepul- 
cher of progress." To-day we have peace and universal free- 
dom, and our soldiers gave us both. They saved the South as 
well as the North, and no one can now tell where the North 
ends or the South begins. Through their patriotic efforts the 
chasm which once divided our country into sections has been 
arched by the bow of fraternity and love. "Cheers for the liv- 
ing, tears for the dead." 

Very truly yours, 

G. W. Atkinson, 

Governor. 



CONVICT LABOR. 



Executive Department, 
Charleston, W. Va,, May 26, 1900 
Messrs. S. B. Elkins and N. B. Scott, 
United States Senators, 
Washington, D. C. 
My Dear Senators— 

Warden Hawk informs me that the House of Representatives, 
a few days ago, passed two important bills reported by the 
Committee on Labor, wdiich extends the eight-hour law to all 
laborers employed under contract on Government work, and 
also to prohibit interstate traffic in prison-made goods. It is 
needless for me to say to both of you that the passage of this 
bill will greatly embarrass us in the management of our State 
prison. When the present administration came into office it 



Convict Labor. 



475 



was costing* the tax-payers of the State about $2,000 per 
month to carry on that institution. For the past six or eight 
months the State has been receiving a revenue of from $1,500 
to $2,000 per month over and above all the expenses connected 
with the institution. This revenue, as a matter of course, comes 
to the State under the contract labor system. I have always 
had doubts in my mind of the propriety of any State allowing 
penitentiary made articles to come in competition with honest, 
free labor, and yet there is another side to the question; namely, 
the only way to maintain good discipline in a penitentiary is to 
work the convicts a reasonable number of hours per day, and 
allow them extra compensation for any additional time above 
the required hours that they may be employed. Warden HaAvk 
has been remarkably successful, both in the discipline of the 
institution and the business manner in which he has conducted 
it. It is a great advantage to our tax-payers to have an in- 
come of $2,000 per month instead of an outlay of $2,000 per 
month, as is the case at present. You will find that-the House 
passed the bills referred to under a suspension of the rules, 
which indicates the sentiment of the popular branch of Con- 
gress. Entertaining the views I do on the subject I cannot well 
afford to say that I am openly opposed to the passage of the 
bill, but instead of into effect ninety days after its passage it 
should be amended so as to take effect not less than one year 
after its passage. This will give all penitentiaries ample time 
to allow contractors of prison labor to close out their business 
without loss. The contractors in our institution have unfilled 
contracts running perhaps a year at least ahead. It would, 
therefore, be a great hardship upon them to stop the contract 
system without giving them at least a year's time to arrange 
for the same. 

I consider this a very important question, and worthy of the 
serious consideration of the Senate. I hope, therefore, it will 
be your pleasure to give it your thoughtful attention. 

Very respectfully yours, 

Gr. W. Atkinson, 
Governor. 



470 Public Addresses &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



SENATOR W. T. WILLEY IN PUBLIC LIFE. 

Remarks of Governor G. W. Atkinson, at Morgantown, W. Va., 
May 27, 1900, at a Public Meeting in Memory of that 
Distinguished Citizen. 



My Friends:— 

The life of every man is made up of moments, moments are 
made up of thoughts, thoughts are developed into acts, acts 
into deeds, and thus along the highway of life, we gather them 
and drop them by the wa}^side. The weed, the flower, the fruit, 
the trees spring up along our pathways, and thus life's records 
are left and are as imperishable asthe stars. The crossing of ex- 
United States Senator Waitman T. AVilley marked the passage 
of, in my judgment, the greatest Virginian who was born and 
brought up west of the Blue Ridge. I make this statement 
thoughtfully and without intentional disparagement to thegal- 
laxy of great men who were contemporaneous with him. There 
were the two Summers', Philip Doddridge, Bishop Morris, the 
McComases, the Jacksons, Senator Carlisle, and still others, all 
of whom w r ere men of unusual abilities and attainments. In- 
deed, they were really great men and all of them left their im- 
press upon the times in which they lived. But with due respect 
to their memories— for all of them have crossed the deep, dark 
river of death into the other life beyond — I am candid when I 
say, that in the elements which go to make up the truly great 
character, Mr. Wille} T outranked them all, 

Great learning, large attainments and proud achievements, in 
and of themselves, do not necessarily mark the greatest char- 
acter in man. The achievements of the orator, the statesman, 
the legislator, the soldier, do not always alone bring to men en- 
during fame. There is still something in the make up of an in- 
dividual that is more lasting and that is humility of life and 
conduct, "charity, which vaunteth not itself and is not puffed 
up", and love and sympathy for one's fellows, — these make one's 
record as enduring as the sun. These qualities Mr. Willey pos- 
sessed to a greater extent, perhaps, than any other of his asso- 
ciates in the early history of our State. No histoiy of West 



Senator W. T. Willey in Public Life. 



477 



Virginia can ever be written, covering the generation beginning 
with the late civil war, without noting, in almost every chapter, 
the acts, the utterances, the deeds, and the achievements of 
Waitman T. Willey, who for a score of years preceding was in- 
variably referred to as "the Whig Wheel-Horse of the West''. 
For more than a half century prior to his death he was a tow- 
ering figure in the public affairs of his native State. 

Senator Willey entered upon a public career educationally 
equipped, having had the best college training then given west 
of the Alleghenies. With honesty of purpose as his unfaltering 
guide, he forged his way steadily to the front. Modest and re- 
tiring, he never pushed himself, but the people soon learned that 
within him was every essential element of a man, and they 
chose him as a leader and stood by him to the last. In every 
public act lie was guided invariably by the stars of faith and 
right. Thoughtful, conscientious, conservative, just in all 
things, and helpful to all who sought his counsel, they found in 
him no ins and outs. His every public act— and this state- 
ment will not be questioned— was measured wholly and always 
by the plumb line of duty and the right. 

At the bar, in the legislative halls of both Virginias, in con- 
stitutional conventions, upon the platform and the hustings, 
and in the Senate of the United States, he measured up to the 
stature of real greatness; and none of his opponents have ever 
essayed to charge that he was anything but a model in excel- 
lence and a model of goodness in them all. Of all the promi- 
nent public men I ever knew, Senator Willey was the cleanest, 
squarest, truest and the best. His promises were guarded by 
him with as much sacredness as his life; and to the day of his 
death, one could point to his tall, stooped figure and say, there 
is one man who spent more than fifty years in public places and 
yet never told a lie. Can this much be truthfully said of any 
other really prominent public servant in this or any other 
State? 

As an orator Mr. Willey had no peer among all the public 
men I ever knew. In the gift, which actors call "heart", he 
stood supreme. He could move an audience at his will. In dis- 
cussion and debate, he was an antagonist dangerous to meet. 
He was as resistless as a whirlwind and yet was as gentle as a 
woman and as tender-hearted as a child. His powers of utter- 
ance on the rostrum or before a jury were rarely found in men. 



478 Public Addresses &c. 3 or Gov r . Gr. W. Atkinson. 



His rhetoric was as chaste as violets. His climaxes were over- 
whelming. His sentiments sublime. 

Gone from the throng of the living, his long and useful career 
stands out boldly as a model, and no one can err by folio wing- 
in his footsteps. Religious, sympathetic in every fiber of his 
make-up and generous to a fault, he leaves behind him as aher- 
itage to the people of his State, a character as spotless as a 
maiden's and as unsullied as a ray of light. Such men are rare. 
Such men are truly great. 

"Hp was a man of form and mein imposing 1 , 
And courteous as kingly courts suggest: 
While friends all confidence in him reposing, 
Did oft among the good, esteem him best. 

"He was a man, who was honored justly, 
A statesman skilled in all traditions lore: 
In law and usage he was never rusty, 
And counted his followers by the score. 

"He taught the truths of love and duty, 
By precept and example, one by one, 
And showed by his sincerity their beauty — 
In dignity and force, excelled by none. 

"Upright and honest and unostentatious, 
And kind and generous to friend and foe, 
He ne'er was so surprised that word ungracious 
Fell from his lips to wound, as with a blow. 

"Such was our friend, who has gone before us, 
AVhose memory revered, and worth we tell; 
But I AM THAT I AM will some day restore us. 
Our revered and lost, with him for aye to dwell." 



ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

By Governor George W. Atkinson, L.L. B., L.L. D., of West 
Virginia, Before the Illinois College of Law, 
Chicago, Mar SI, 1900. 



Mr, President, Young Gentlemen of the Graduating Class, 
of 1900, Ladies and Gentlemen :— 
Pericles, perhaps the greatest of the Athenian statesmen, in 
delivering the funeral oration of the Greek soldiers who fell in 



Annual Address. 



479 



the expedition to Samos, referred in detail to what he termed 
the glory and grandeur of. Athens. He spoke not only of the 
patriotism of the Greek soldiers, but of the progress that had 
been made by the Athenians in architecture, literature, mathe- 
matics, and the arts. He, in short, extolled his people as 
models for all the centuries that were yet to come. In looking 
back over the centuries which have come and gone, we find 
that Pericles, in that great oration, was both right and wrong- 
right in his claim that in patriotism and loyalty to principle 
the ancient Greek has never been, and never will be, surpassed. 
He was right also that the Greek in that day had climbed high 
up on the ladder of literature, letters, learning and the arts; 
but he was forever wrong in his conclusion that in every re- 
spect they could never be surpassed as a Nation and a people. 
Why, my friends, in general education, in morals, in religion, in 
literature, in science, in territory, in natural advantages and 
endowments, our American people have extended into realms 
of which the learned Athenians never even dreamed. The whole 
world is now within our reach. Within the limits of a century 
our star has risen to one of the first magnitude, and we are 
now pouring fabulous treasures into the lap of commerce. And 
yet, we are standing upon the threshold of new discoveries, and 
are at the entrance of an era of dazzling splendor which cannot 
fail to electrify the human race. The whole world is now radi- 
ant with hope, and we should be happy that we are partici- 
pants of its benefits, and happier still that we are to take part 
in transmitting these benefits committed to our keeping, un- 
tarnished and undimmed, to succeeding generations. 

I esteem it both a privilege and a pleasure, young gentlemen, 
through the kindness of your President, whom I have person- 
ally known for a considerable number of years, to be permitted 
to talk to you on this, your graduation day. We hail from 
the West Virginia hills, some of which are so high that it re- 
quires two men to see to the tops of them. Above their crests 
shines the eternal sun as he rolls his chariot across the sky. 
The silver streams wind their meandering ways down the slopes 
murmuring their endless songs. The majestic rivers sweep 
through the gorges, canyons and vales as they drive ever on- 
ward to the sea. The music of our mountain songsters, as 
they leap from bough to bough of the forest trees along the 
hills, ceases only with the coming of the night. The roar of the 



480 Public Addresses &c. of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



cataracts lulls our people to restful repose, and awakes them 
from their slumbers at the dawning of the morn. Those majes- 
tic West Virginia mountains have withstood the storms of the 
centuries and will continue to stand amid the sunshine of mil- 
lennial glory. Our coal fields are richer than the gold mines of 
the Transvaal; our timber is taller than the cedars of Lebanon; 
our oil pools are more valuable than the gems of Golconda or 
the silver of the Klondyke. We have the water melon, the 
pomegranite and the grape. We have the milk, the honey and 
the peach. We have tall men, suncrowned and brawned and 
brave, and the prettiest, happiest, sweetest women beneath the 
stars. 

I have told you all this about the former home and the class 
of associates of your President, because I know he is entirely 
too modest to allude to it himself. Mark you, my friends, this 
talk is private, because I don't desire to depopulate Chicago, 
nor do I want all of you to rush to Weal Virginia, hang out 
your shingles and revolutionize the practice of the law. And 
yet, with my well known proverbial modesty, you will pardon 
me for saying that West Virginia is a superb State for young 
men to live in, and for old men to die in. 

The law, my young friends, is the greatest of all the profes- 
sions, because it requires harder and deeper study to master its 
details and apply them successfully. A physician can keep 
mum, look wise and thus cause his patient to believe that he 
knows all about one's ailments and afflictions. A clergyman 
can revamp other men's thoughts and create a powerful im- 
pression in the pulpit; but the poor lawyer has to meet allcom- 
ers, and everybody in the court room, after he utters a few T 
sentences, will very soon know whether he understands the law 
and the facts in his case. There can be no successful charlatan- 
ism in the practice of our profession. A good lawyer is soon 
found out, and a bad one sooner. A good lawyer cannot fail to 
make a record, and so will the bad. One wins his cases — the 
other looses. One succeeds— the other fails. Hence the necessity 
of thorough legal training. Only a genius can suck enough law 
out of his learned opponent to enable him to deceive a court and 
a jury and thus score a victory in a court-house contest. Geniuses 
are few, consequently every lawyer should master all of the de- 
tails of his case before he enters the court room, if he may hope 
for victory. Law schools are essential, my young friends, be- 



Annual Address. 



481 



cause they imprint upon the mind principles that are at ail 
times essential to know and must be applied in every import- 
ant trial. Moreover, this training trees out the intellect, which 
enables one to act quickly when cornered by an antagonist who 
has mastered his case. Picked up legal training is in no respect 
equal to the workaday drill of the law school. The one is su- 
perficial—the other is thorough. The technique of the profes- 
sion can only be acquired and mastered in the law school or 
college. Hence the necessity for the college training. The LL. 
B. and the LL. M. are the fellows to keep an eye on in the trial 
of a case, Like Cassius, as a rule, they are lean and hungry, 
because they know how to think and discriminate and act. The 
great lawyer is one who can see a point quickly and then drive 
it home with a single blow. Such an one does not necessarily 
strike below the belt, but he lands unerringly on the solar plexis 
at every drive. Watch him, or you will go down and out in 
every round and under at the last. 

The law, my friends, is both a science and an art. As a 
science it. teaches all of the principles involved in the right and 
the wrong. As an art it teaches how to apply these principles 
in separating right from wrong. A single word definition of 
law is "right". Therefore law is right, and the application of 
it is to require every one to be right and remain right. Equity 
is right; equity follows the law, therefore law is right. Black- 
stone's short definition of law can never be improved upon— 
"Law is a rule of action ***** prescribing what is 
right and prohibiting what is wrong." Reason is the life of the 
law; nay, the common law itself is nothing else but reason. 
The law, therefore, is the perfection of reason. Our human 
laws are but the copies, more or less imperfect, of the eternal 
laws so far as we can read them. The law, therefore, is the last 
result of huma.n wisdom acting upon human experience for the 
benefit of the public, and where law ends tyranny begins. The 
law has honored all the civilized world, and the people should 
never fail to honor it. Hail, all hail to the Knights of Black- 
stone who go out from this school to-day ! You will find many 
ups and downs when you lock horns with your brethren in the 
saw-dust and the judge upon the wool-sack. [The speaker in- 
troduced a laughable anecdote of an old lawyer's advice to his 
son, who had just started into the practice for himself.] 

My advice to you, young gentlemen, to-day, as you leave 

31 



482 Public Addresses &c. of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



this school, is to take with composure whatever may come to 
you. All ambitious men aim high, but seldom reach their high- 
est expectations. Some men, however, go about their work 
blindly and with no definite purpose in life. It seems to me to 
be a crime for people to always mean well, and yet never reach 
their well meaning. 

The man who accomplishes the most, is the one who sees 
things as they are, and thus takes a vigorous hand to make 
the most of the circumstances which come within his reach. 
The man who achieves the greatest good, is the one who enter- 
tains the highest ideals, and then endeavors to put these ideal.s 
into practical effect. 

Success, as I uuderstand it, lies in being in perfect harmony 
with one's undertakings. Things may, for a time, appear out 
of joint; and one may not find his work in harmony with his ex- 
pectations, but if he is true to his calling, it will finally result 
for the best. Let me tell you, young gentlemen, the world is 
proud of those who are in love with their work, no matter what 
it may be. 

Some one has said, and I think aptly, that the old maxim of 
"a penny saved is better than a penny earned," yet it is not al- 
together correct. A penny which has been property earned, and 
judiciously expended, in my judgment, is a far better maxim 
than the one above mentioned, which is so generally accepted 
as correct political economy. Monej T saved frequently results 
in loss to its owner. The judicious expenditure of money is the 
basis of individual and national prosperity. The successful man 
does both — he saves and invests. One always supplements the 
other. The men who win success in life are not those who wait 
until all methods are proven successes, but rather those who 
ask only an even chance, and join the procession while it ispass- 
ing. If I were as young as you, my young friends, I would 
hasten to take out an endowment policy of confidence in nryself, 
and I w T ould resolve to take a hand in whatever might come 
before me. Conservatism may do for old men, but young men 
must have grit and gumption, and nerve enough to assert them- 
selves, and hold the positions they have rightfully taken. I 
urge you, therefore, to allow no one, old or young, to rob you 
of that which justly belongs to you. Allow no one to crowd 
you out of line. Stand firmly for that which is justly and hon- 



Annual Address. 



483 



estly your own. Stand for Your rights, as Patrick Henry ex- 
pressed it, "Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish." 

My friends, these diplomas mean much to you. They show 
that you have equipped yourselves for your life-work. They 
testify that you are not mountebanks or charlatans. The 
time was when men could, in a way. practice the legal profes- 
sion without knowledge, or learning, or character. The time 
was when men could win a fair degree of success, even in all of 
the learned professions, with limited educations; but that time 
has passed. The day of raw-leather men has gone by forever; 
and we are glad that it is so. Education is now demanded, not 
only in the learned professions, but in every branch of business 
and trade as well. I once heard Henry AVard Beecher say that 
even "Mortar is better when mixed with brains," and he was 
right. 

My fellow citizens, the history of the world, from Adam down 
to McKinley. teaches the fact that true merit will always be re- 
warded. It is sometimes tardy in its coming, but it will come 
at last to all who are truly meritorious and deserving. The 
masses of the people are always fair and honest, and they will, 
sooner or later, award to every one of you your just deserts. 
Then, my young friends, let me advise you not to undertake to 
try to deceive the people, because they will surely find you out. 
They will "get onto you,'' as the boys say on the streets. Mr. 
Lincoln aptly said: "You can deceive all the people part of the 
time: you can deceive part of the people all the time; but you 
can't deceive all the people all the time."' 

When you begin to wrestle seriously with the world, you will 
find that great men do not grow upon parlor carpets anymore 
than trees grow in hot-beds, Great men are made by rubbing 
up against the moving, throbbing mass of mankind, just as the 
trees are made to grow and flourish and take deeper and firmer 
roots, because of the winds and the storms that beat against 
them on the mountain crests. Just so it is with the men of this 
world, my friends. 

You will find also that in all of life's struggles, courage will be 
essential to success in your callings as lawyers at the bar of jus- 
tice. Not John L. Sullivan courage; I don't mean that. That is 
brute courage, and you will find that there is not much in that, 
my friends. You should, however, have enough of that sort of 
courage to protect your manhood, your honor, your homes, 



484 



Public Addres3E3 &o. of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



and your firesides, and no more. The braggard and the bully, 
like the rawdeather man, are back numbers. The courage that 
you will need most is moral courage,— the courage do be just, 
the courage to do right, the courage to stand for principle, the 
courage to be honest every hour in the day, and every day in 
the week. 

An old sailor once said: "Messmates, I want to tell you that 
God Almighty has so arranged things in this world that it 
about pays to do right." 

The little boy who saw the water breaking through the dykes 
yonder in the lowlands of Holland and promptly stopped the 
leak with clay, to my mind revealed a finer fiber and a braver 
record than Arnold Winklereid, who, w hen at the head of the 
Swiss army, shouted to the enemy, "make way for liberty." 
and rushing upon the bayonets of the enemy made way for 
liberty and died. 

The little Scotch peasant girl— Margaret Graham— who by 
Claverhouse's order was tied to a stake on the beach when the 
tide was out, because she would not renounce her belief in the 
Christian religion, and was overwhelmed by the tide, by that 
one act proved her courage to be greater than Chambronne's 
when he shouted to the British, "The guard will die, but it will 
never surrender." 

The watchman at Pompeii, buried at his post by the molten 
lava from Vesuvius, tells the Roman story in more eloquent 
language than the ruins of theCollosseum. And brave Herndon, 
standing upon the bow of his ship, doing all he could to save his 
crew, and choosing death to dishonor, is a grander picture of 
true, heroic temper than Julius Ca?sar leading his legions to 
victorj^, or the conquering Corsican at the Bridge of Lodi. This, 
my brothers, is the sort of courage you will need. [The speak- 
er also used one of Mr. Moody's very effective illustrations, 
which was taken from ancient history.] 

Two more thoughts and I am done. The first of these 
thoughts is, that Devine Providence has so arranged things in 
this life that a narrow-minded, pompous, pop-eyed, pigeon liver- 
ed bigot cannot amount to much in this world. What man- 
kind wants above everything else is heart, soul, sympathy. 
Some men have no hearts— they only have gizzards. I know 
some men myself, whose souls are so small that a million of 
them can revolve on the point of a cambric needle without 



Annual Address. 



485 



touching elbows. If you hope to win in this world, my young 1 
friends, you must have sympathy— a fellow-feeling for somebody 
besides yourselves. 

But you may say there is nothing but sentiment in sympathy. 
Your are mistaken. It is the great power, unseen though it 
may be, that is yet to reform this world. It is the lever by 
which all classes may be raised to a higher plane of intelligence 
and usefulness. The reason that Shakespeare's poems are read 
second only to the Bible itself, is because of the vein of sympa- 
thy which runs through almost ever line of every poem. He 
seemingly stretches out his great arms and throws them around 
the people and draws them to his bosom, which is ever throbbing 
with sympathy and love. Your popularity and your success 
will depend largely upon the amount of sympathy you show to- 
wards you fellowmen. 

I know you will pardon this illustration: I have stood on the 
summit of the lofty hill in the rear of my home at Wheeling, and 
have heard peal after peal of the mighty thunder, which seemed 
to shake the mountains to their bases. This to me was grand — 
awfully grand. Standing there, I have seen flash after flash of 
lightning as they shot athwart both valley and sky. This, too, 
was grand. Standing there, I have heard the escaping of steam 
from the massive steamboats, as they plowed the bosom of the 
majestic Ohio, as it swept past my home on its meandering way 
to the sea. This, also, was grand. Standing there, I have 
heard the shrill whistle of the locomotive, as it dashed along 
valley and hill-side, and through the very mountains them- 
selves, carrying passengers forty miles an hour from sea to sea. 
This, likewise, was grand. All these things were grand, — aw- 
fully grand; but they are nothing, absolutely nothing, in com- 
parison with the waitings of the human heart, which arouse in 
one's bosoms a desire to relieve another's sorrows and bind up 
another's wounds. 

The lower animals have feeling, but they have no fellow feel- 
ing. I have myself seen the ox eating hay in his stall, when his 
yoke-mate lay dying by his side. 

It is said that the wounded deer sheds tears. This may be 
true; but it is left for man alone, by sympathy, to divide 
another's sorrows and double another's joys. 

You may place two pianos in a room — one being an exact 
multiple of the other — and leave one of them uncovered and open 



480 Public Addresses &c. of Gov. (x. W. Atkinson. 



up the other. Let some one place his ear upon the uncovered 
instrument, and let another touch a ke^' of the other instrument, 
and the man with his ear uponthecasiugof the uncovered piano 
will hear the sound of the self-same note. This is the philoso- 
phy of harmonics. It is strange, passing strange, but it is 
stranger still how it is and why it is, that the strings of one 
man's heart will vibrate to those of another, and how woe awakes 
woe and grief begets pain. 

This, my friends, is sympathy in the fullness of its sweep, and 
this is the great unseen power which will yet regenerate the 
world. My brother, my friend, if you have not begun to culti- 
vate this element in your nature, I beg of you to begin it now 
before you enter upon your great mission of the practice of the 
law. 

The other thought which I desired to leave with you is the 
statement that work wins. Daniel Webster once said, "In all 
the learned professions, there is always room on top." He 
meant to convey the impression that all the lower grade posi- 
tions and places are crowded, and he was forever right. Great 
as he was, he never uttered a nobler truism than that. 

I once saw a placard on the wall of a law office which read 
like this, as well as I can recall it, "Lost, somewhere between 
the hours of 9 a. m. and 6 p. m. to-day. one golden hour of 
time. No reward is offered for its recovery, because it is gone 
forever." I am sure, my young friends, you will catch the force 
of the lesson of that advertisement. 

With all the emphasis that I can command I want to impress 
upon your minds to-night the force and truthfulness of the 
statement that work, and nothing but persistent work, will 
procure success for you in the careers upon which you are now 
entering. Men may be born rich, but they cannot be born 
great. No lawyer, no physician, no clergyman, no statesmen, 
no farmer, no mechanic ever reached success by loafing or 
lounging precious time away. That is not the way the gladi- 
ator prepared himself for the amphitheatre at Home, when 
nearly all the inhabitants of that great city* were present to 
witness his daring feats of courage, nerve and muscle. That is 
not the way that John Milton wrote "Paradise Lost/' the 
grandest epic poem of the centuries. That is not the way that 
Henry Thomas Buckle laid the foundation of and gathered the 
material for the most remarkable history ever written by mor- 



Annual Address. 



487 



tal hands. That is not the way that Demosthenes and Pericles 
prepared themselves for the Athenean rostrum, and who, when 
they spoke, swayed the people at their wills. That is not 
the way that Hannibal and Scipio and Alexander the Great 
and Julius Caesar and Frederick the Second and Napoleon the 
First prepared themselves for the command of great armies, 
the very mention of whose names in battle created excitement, 
fear and consternation in the ranks of their enemies. That is 
not the way that Copernicus and Kepler and Rosse and Newton 
surve} T ed the heavens, and with their massive telescopes brought 
the remotest stars almost within the shadows of their homes. 
That is not the way that Phidias and Praxitiles and Michael 
Angelo and our own great Hiram Powers, with chisel and brush, 
worked their ways through life, and left behind them monu- 
ments more enduring than the marble they sculptured and the 
pictures they painted, and names as imperishable as brass. 

No, my friends, all of these distinguished men whose names I 
have mentioned, and all other great men of all ages and na- 
tionalities, worked their ways to fame, to fortune and success. 
They dug out the nuggets of wisdom which adorned their lives 
and characters from the great mountain of knowledge, which a 
wise and benificent Creator has placed within the reach of all. 

Young gentlemen, hear me. If you expect to attain success 
in life, let me tell you it can only be done by working early and 
late. "There is no royal road to learning." This proverb is 
as true as the Gospel of Grace. 

At the risk of the charge of being prolix, I am going to offer 
one thought more, and it is this: The wise builder builds for 
the future. There is nothing enduring in this world but God 
and His laws. The stars that shone upon your cradles will 
shine upon your graves; the hills that cast their shadows upon 
your playgrounds will also cast them upon your biers as loved 
ones take you to your tombs. Darkness is closing over the 
land of Solon and Lycurgus. The hills that echoed the eloquence 
of Pericles are almost unknown to-day. The groves in which 
Socrates and Plato prepared their philosophy have all been razed 
to the earth. The grand cities, temples and obelisks of an- 
tiquity, which were intended to immortalize their builders, have 
nearly crumbled into dust; but the names and the deeds of 
Paul, and Baxter, and Bunyan, and men of that class, will live 
on and on forever. 



488 Public Addresses &c. of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



I repeat, my young friends, the wise men of to-day will build 
for etermity. Decay is written upon everything about us. 
Mausoleums, like everything earthly, must give waj T under the 
tooth of time. Even the globe itself must, sooner or later, 
melt with fervent heat. The sun unheeded will drag along the 
jarring heavens and refuse to shine. The light of the stars will 
pale away. The moon will roll up the rending sky and hang 
her latent livery on the wings of the dying night ;,but if we as in- 
dividual men and women have builded well, our work will remain 
indestructable, immutable, immortal, [panoplied in perpetual 
glory, imaged by centuries, unmarred by change, and as eter- 
nal as God. 

We look into the future and hail the coming of the morn, 
radiant and effulgent, when the waves of the sea will become 
the crystal cords of a grand organ, on which the fingers of 
everlasting 303^ will peal the grand march of a world redeemed 
to God. 

"Keep pushing, 'tis wiser than sitting aside 
And dreaming and sighing and waiting the tide; 
In life's busy conflict, those only prevail 
Who daily press onward and never say fail. 

"With an eye always open, a tongue that's not dumb, 
A heart that will never to sorrow succumb; 
In storm or in sunshine, whatever assail, 
Keep pressing light onward, and never say fail. 

"The spirits of angels are happy I know 
As higher and higher in glory they go; 
Methinks on bright pinions from heaven they sail 
To cheer and encourage who never say fail. 

"In life's rosy morning, in manhood's firm pride. 
Let this be the motto your footsteps to guide; 
In sickness or sorrow though thousands assail, 
God blessing your labors, you can never say fail." 



WHY THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION SHOULD BE UNIVERS- 
ALLY ACCEPTED. 



Executive Department, 
Charleston, West Virginia, June 7, 1900. 
Rev. Louis Albert Banks, 
No. 504 Prospect Street, 

Cleveland, O. 

My Dear Sir: 

Reptying to your valued favor of the 5th inst., in which you 



Why the Christian Religion Should be Accepted. 489 



ask me to state the causes and circumstances connected with 
my determination to endeavor to live a Christian life, I desire 
to say that such decision was brought about more from 
parental training than anything else. My parents were ardent 
Christians, and, as a matter of course, they instilled into my 
mind from early childhood the principles of Christianity which 
they themselves earnestly supported and believed. When I 
reached the period in life that I could think for myself, I sur- 
veyed the field as carefully as I could, and saw for myself that 
the Christian religion had done more for the uplifting of man- 
kind than everything else combined. I, of my own desire, 
therefore, fell into line, and have done what little I could to 
help the cause along. Christianity, more than all other religions 
united, has elevated the minds and thoughts of all peoples and 
caused them to be helpful to one another in making the world 
generally better and happier and purer and nobler. Christianity 
has erected more churches, more alms houses, more asylums, 
more school buildings and colleges than any other force known 
to humanity. In addition to its recognition of God as the All 
Father of all mankind, it has built its fabric upon the Golden 
Rule basis of living, and has all along the centuries devoted its 
best efforts to aiding the needy, lifting up the fallen, and com- 
forting the distressed. No one can err in life by squaring his 
actions according to the precepts and teachings of the Holy 
Bible. This book is so many sided, so universally helpful, and 
so broad in its philosophical teachings that it must be, neces- 
sarily, of Divine conception. I have always believed it to be 
the Word of God, and always shall regard it as such. Even if 
it should turn out to be the product of man, we can lose noth- 
ing by following its teachings; and if, on the other hand, it 
should prove Divine, as I believe it to be, we will be on the safe 
side by conducting our lives according to its requirements. I 
have never been able to understand why every well meaning 
citizen should not be a consistent Christian. 

Very respectfully yours, 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of West Virginia. 



490 Public Addresses, &o., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



NEW SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NATION'S NATAL DAY. 



Executive Department. 
Charleston., W. Ya., June 7, 1000. 

Editor "Ram's Horn," 
No. 110 La Salle Avenue, 
Chicago, 111. 

My Dear Sir — 

Replying to your courteous request of the 1st inst. relative 
to the particular significance of the approaching Fourth of July 
and its relation to the present problems in our National life, I 
desire to say briefly that on account of the recent war between 
the United States and Spain and our present contest to regu- 
late the affairs of the Philippine Islands and bring them safely 
under Republican rule and administration, the coming Fourth 
of July will have more than its usual significance as the birth- 
day of our Republic. Our war with Spain was not a war of 
conquest or for greed or gain. It was the natural result of the 
growing sentiment throughout the world that all peoples are 
inherently entitled to the greatest possible liberty, both in 
church and state. American patriotism, therefore, will, on the 
coming Fourth of July, reach the highest stage in patriotic 
sentiment that has been attained since the war of the Rebel- 
lion. Patriotic sentiment nowadays among our people seems 
to be universal. The American people are naturally liberty- 
loving and patriotic. I, therefore, look for great demonstra- 
tions throughout the country this year in celebrating our 
Nation's natal day. We have adopted new methods in the 
conduct of our National affairs, the discussion of which will 
create new enthusiasm and revive a patriotic sentiment which 
for many years has been more or less dormant. 

I look for these new methods in the management of our Gov- 
ernment to open new avenues of trade which, of necessity, will 
bring greater prosperity to the people at large, and greater 
devotion to the United States as the flagship of the world. 

Very respectfully, 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of West Virginia. 



Corner Stone Oration. 



491 



CORNER STONE ORATION. 

Deliverer] by Governor G. W. Atkinson, P. G. M. and Grand 
Secretary of the Grand Lodge of West Virginia, at Charles- 
ton, West Virginia, July 4, 1900. At the laying 
of the Corner-stone of the new Capi- 
tol Building. 



My Brethren, Friends and Fellow Citizens: 

It .seems to me most fitting that the corner-stone of this, to 
be, splendid new Capitol building, should be laid with elaborate 
ceremonies on our Nation's "natal day." Here under Cod's 
free sunl ight; here as our locks are fanned by the air of liberety; 
here at the Capital of one of the richest and most prosperous of 
all the States of the Republic; here under the protection of the 
''stars and strips;" here on the banks of the Great Kanawha in 
the twilight of the nineteenth century; here amid the hum indus- 
try and development on every hand, and beneath the shadows of 
the majestic hills which have withstood the storms of centuries, in 
the presence of this magnificent throng of our own West Virginia 
people, we are assembled to lower to its place in the north-east 
corner of this proposed imposing edifice, a massive corner- 
stone, which weighs 12,000 avoirdupois pounds. Only great 
builders, my friends, can accomplish such an undertaking. 
Only master mechanics can perform such work. Hail to this 
great Fraternity of Freemasons to-day! Hail to this massive 
gathering of freemen! Hail, all hail, to you as patriotic West 
Virginians! And better than all, I hail you as Americans! 
Patrick Henry, more than a hundred years ago, builded wiser 
than he knew, when he said, "I hail the day as not far distant, 
when it will be regarded as the proudest exclamation of man, I 
am an American!" Better than Persian, Creek or Roman is the 
four-syllable word American. On this day of days, higher than 
ever before has the tide of American patriotism risen. More 
than ever before is the American flag revered. From sea to sea 
and from lakes to gulf, to-day will our countrymen shout loud- 
est over the privileges they enjoy. To-day w T e rejoice, not only 
because we are in the front rank of the great nations of the 



402 



Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



world, but better than all, we are, happily united under one flag 
and one Constitution, and are to remain, we hope, one Nation 
and one people, indivisible and inseparable, now and forever 
more. Old sectional divisions have been removed, and the true 
national purpose before us, as citizens, is to strengthen the bul- 
warks of our civilization, so that righteousness among all the 
people may be the immutable basis of our great Republic. Free 
schools for all and all for free schools should be the motto of 
each and all, because they develop safe ideals of national great- 
ness, and add largely to the sentiments of loyalty to the "stars 
and stripes," and the true glory of our indissoluble American 
Union. The universal sentiment of the American people to-day 
is one constitution, one flag, one destiny. May it, my hearers, 
be thus forever. 

One cannot, my fellow citizens, but be impressed by this aug- 
ust presence and this splendid demonstration. I count it a 
high privilege indeed, upon an occasion so fraught with public 
interest, to be permitted to speak, for a few minutes, to this 
splendid audience of my own West Virginia people. I congrat- 
ulate this oldest and greatest of all fraternal arganizations, and 
all of you as well, upon the auspicious circumstances which sur- 
round us upon this memorable occasion. 

This, my friends, as you all well know, is the 124th annivers- 
ary of the birth of the Republic under which we are now living. 
Some nations have had rapid growth— others slow. Ours, in 
growth and progress, is the wonder of all the centuries, and its 
marvelous development is by no means circumstantial. The 
United States possess, beyond question, the most wonderful 
productive power of any other government on the earth. As 
production is wealth, therefore the nation which produces most 
is necessarily the wealthiest and most stable. Our energy as a 
producer is equal to Great Britain, France and Germany com- 
bined, and yet they are all great nations. One American, by 
actual statistics, has more energy in productive force than two 
Germans or four Frenchmen, however advanced they may be 
in education, culture, refinement and civilization; and however 
much they may have had the start of us in the race that will 
ever be on between the nations of the world. Free labor, free 
thought and free speech, beyond all other factors, are the 
foundation stones — the corner-stones — of our wonderful pros- 
perity as a Nation, Seemingly everything prospers under a free 



Cornek-Stoxe Oration. 



493 



sky. Men, somehow, grow bigger, stronger, greater, braver 
when the air they breathe is charged with the pure ozone of 
freedom. Every American is a freeman, and every avenue is 
open alike to one and all. Class or creed or sect or race or 
caste has no grip upon any of us. We are what we ourselves 
make us— nothing less— nothing more. The men who wear 
rings in their noses may be men, but one thing is sure and in- 
controvertible: they are not Americans. We walk erect in the 
dignity of unrestricted, untrammeled Anglo-Saxon manhood. 
Thank God! over the relics of human slavery in all lands to- 
day, (and the Fourth of July, more than any other one cause, 
brought it about), freemen are erecting stately edifices, and the 
legions of almost forgotten monarchs arc sleeping beneath the 
tread of freedom's hosts, and upon every sepulcher of history 
are strewn the ashes from the camp-fires of the army of 
progress. 

To the inventive genius of our people may be attributed a 
large measure of our growth and progress. Germany may be, 
and doubtless is, the seat of universities and learning; France, 
the school of soldiers, and England the mother of the mechanic 
arts; but the United States masters the world in inventive 
genius. No Chaldean astronomer ever measured a year or fore- 
told an eclipse. The alphabet was invented in the East, but 
no line of language of profane history has been transmitted to 
us written in that alphabet. The Egyptians piled up massive 
monuments along the Nile, but the citizens of the republics of 
Greece and Borne alone were the architects of edifices and tem- 
ples which have been used as models through the centuries. 
The history of all literatures from the Alexandrian age to the 
present time, teaches the fact that genius withered with the de- 
cline of liberty, and grew with the growth of freedom. It is, 
my countrymen, because genius developed by the freedom of 
thought, that the world to-day owes to America its greatest 
blessings of discovery. It was Franklin who bottled the light- 
ning, and with Edison's genius, coupled with Franklin's discov- 
ery, the world is now ruled in a large degree by electricity. 
Rumsey discovered the power of steam, and Fulton's genius 
gave to it the mastery of power and time and space. Whitney 
invented the cotton-gin. Howe gave to the housewife and the 
manufacturer of clothing the sewing machine. Bell and Dol- 
bear thought out the telephone, while Morse annihilated dis- 



-±9T Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



tance by telegraphy. Nearly all labor-saving inventions now 
in use in all lands are the products of American genius. We 
are, therefore, a nation of inventors without a rival on the 
globe. 

I have said, my countrymen, that the progress the United 
States has made is not the mere outgrowth of circumstances, 
and I meant it. The physical and mechanical powers which 
have ever been behind our people are the causes that have 
enabled them, crude and unlettered as they were at the outset, 
to jump to the fore-front, and to maintain the position, against 
all corners, which they fairly and rightfully won. Consequently. 
I say. that it was not the mere outgrowth of circumstances alone 
which occasioned these conditions or brought them about, 
(hit and genius did the work. The strong and active brains of 
men and women, aided by machinery of their own invention, 
which they have applied to the useful arts and sciences of every- 
day life, cannot be overcome — cannot be suppressed. Intellect- 
ual paper bullets of the brain are more powerful and dangerous 
to encounter than seventy-six pound cannon balls belched from 
the muzzles of modern Krupp guns. Brains are more powerful 
than musketry and swords. Bullets and swords may be evaded, 
but brain furce is as resistless as the tides of the seas. Grit and 
genius, therefore, cannot be suppressed, nor can all other com- 
bined powers or attainments, known to men or angels, stifle or 
overcome them. 

My fellow citizens, marvelous and mighty have been the 
development and progress our government has made during 
the century which is now grandly rolling out. We received the 
ox cart from the eighteenth, and we bequeath to the twentieth 
century the locomotive, the trolly car. the automobile and the 
bicycle. 

We received the goose quill, and bequeath the fountain pen and 
the typewriter. 

We received the sickle and the scythe, and bequeath the 
reaper, the mower and the harvester. 

We received the shovel plow, and bequeath the cultivator. 

We received the tallow-dip, and bequeath the arc-light. 

We received the horse-back and the stage-coach mails, and 
bequeath the "lightning express'" trains, the telegraph and the 
telephone. 



Corner Stone Oratiox. 



495 



We received the hand-press, and bequeath the Hoe cylinder 
and linotype machines. . 

We received the flint-lock gun, and bequeath the automatic 
breech-loading- rifle. 

We received the smooth-bore cannons, and bequeath the 
Krupp andGratling guns. 

W T e received gun-powder, and bequeath nitroglycerine. 

We received the sailing ship, and bequeath the double-screw 
propeller. 

We received the common stairway, and bequeath the light- 
ning-speed elevator. 

We received two-story houses, and bequeath twenty-story 
edifices. 

We received raw-leather men, and bequeath university grad- 
uates. 

We received log school-houses, and we bequeath white, frame 
buildings along every vale and hillside, with their doors thrown 
open for the education of all classes, without money and with- 
out price. 

The nineteenth century, at its beginning, had knowledge of 
only one million stars, and we bequeath to the twentieth cen- 
tury one hundred millions of these mysterious, unfading worlds 
scattered over the broad expanse of space. 

W T e received but twenty-two million English speaking peoples 
from the eighteenth century, and we bequeath one hundred and 
twenty millions to the twentieth century. 

In West Virginia we received a wilderness, the savage, the 
elk and the buffalo, and we bequeath to the twentieth century 
the richest 25,000 square miles of territory that has thus far 
been developed on terra firma, which is now pouring fabulous 
treasures into the lap of commerce. 

And notwithstanding all this development, we are now stand- 
ing at the threshold of still greater discoveries, and are at the 
entrance of an era of dazzling splendor which cannot fail to 
electrify the human race. All these, and more, we cheerfully 
hand over to the new century which is just dawning above the 
eastern horizon. Mighty things have been wrought out during 
the century now drawing to a close, and still, what our eyes 
now behold are but the earnest of things more glorious that 
are yet to follow. Well may we exclaim with him of old: -'What 
hath God not wrought!" 



496 Public Addresses 1 , &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkixsox. 



My friends, the custom of laying corner-stones of public 
edifices with imposing ceremonies like these is of old-time ori- 
gin. Such exercises ante date written history, and therefore 
are known to us only by tradition. The custom fs generally 
regarded as of Hebrew origin, but we have reason to believe 
that it ante dates that world famed, intelligent progressive 
race. The Sacred Scriptures lay much stress upon the corner- 
stone. These sacred writings emphasize the relation of the 
corner-stone to the building or structure. For example, I 
quote the following passages: "Behold I lay in Zion for a 
foundation stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure 
foundation." Again, "Where was thou when I laid thefounda- 
tion of the earth?" And again, " * * * * Whereupon are 
the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the corner-stone 
thereof; when the morning stars sang together and all the sons 
of God shouted for joy?" Adown the centuries the term 
"corner-stone" has been used as a symbol, and was employed 
by poets, prophets, teachers and writers— sacred and profane- 
as a metaphor or simile, or to emphasize an argument or 
enforce a moral and a truth. But they go still further in sig- 
nificance and meaning. Back of this ceremony, my friends and 
brothers, in formally laying this corner-stone to-day, lie the 
deeper aim and the grander purpose of what this proposed 
structure, and other public buildings represent. All public edi- 
fices are constructed to satisfy the needs of a people. This 
building is demanded by the government of West Virginia as a 
place of safety for its public records. Others are needed for 
educational purposes, and still others for the worship of an 
unseen but not unknown God, which symbolizes the greater 
lesson of this time-honored Order of Freemasons, that all of its 
members should erect within themselves spiritual temples that 
the tooth of time cannot destroy. Therefore each individual 
citizen represents, in a sense, the corner-stone of a spiritual edi- 
fice wherein every one is to exemplify that character of a being 
whose purpose is to work out the unity of all men, broader 
than denominations or sects, and as unending as eternity. 

There are those, my fellow citizens, who adhere to the philos- 
ophy that there is no God— no immortality, and that Nature 
alone is God. They are atheists, whose doctrine is condemned 
by Revelation, reason and religion. There are others who 
stand aloof, exclaiming, "We accept nothing that we cannot 



Corner Stone Oration. 



497 



see or feel." They are the agnostics. There is still another 
class who believe in gods many, or that everything is God. 
They are pantheists. There are others still who say that there 
may be a God, but they cannot be sure about it, yet they wor- 
ship him as the Unknowable and Unknown; and there is also a 
fourth class who boldly assert that there is a Divine Creator of 
all persons and all things, wherefore they adore and worship 
Him as the great I Am— the one true God. To this latter class 
of philosophers these Freemasons belong. But no church creed 
controls them. No sect owns them, and no formal religion 
binds them. They are united together by the "Golden Rule," 
and are taught to administer to the wants of the needy, and to 
do what they can to make men happier and the world sweeter 
and purer and better and grander. This great society teaches 
its votaries to be just and useful. We confess, however, in this 
presence to-day, that many of us fall short in meeting its 
requirements; yet no one can be injured by holding membership 
in it. The world has turned loose many of its greatest thinkers 
against us, — men with minds and powers broad enough to 
startle society for a time, but all of these critics have utterly 
failed in their efforts to shake the walls of the Order, or weaken 
the foundation upon which it stands. Its corner-stone, like the 
massive one we have laid to-day, is too firm to be shaken and 
too heavy to be torn away. Like the truths of the Bible, which 
is the recognized "great light in Masonry," it is too powerful 
and too firmly established to be overthrown. Freemasonry 
would have its members always remain upright and just and 
clean — 

"As delicate as a cob-web 
As lasting as the hills." 

But are they always such? Can they be such? To reach that 
standard they would approach the divine. To be such indeed 
would be the ideal, which can never be attained. But withal, 
my brothers, my friends, the world is growing better. The 
principles of liberty are widening. The spirit of charity is 
increasing. Men are steadily rising to higher heights of useful- 
ness and intelligence. The brotherhood of man is increasing its 
hold, and is broadening its influence among the nations of the 
earth. And in this marvelous reformatory work, Freemasonry 
has performed its full duty and has acted a noble part. It is 
here to stay, my friends, because God has willed it so. 



498 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



This great order has weathered safely the storms of the cen- 
turies because it is based upon true benevolent principles. It 
encourages friendship and detests selfishness and hate. Experi- 
ence teaches us that selfishness causes that "inhumanity of man 
to man, that makes the countless millions mourn." The one 
great need of the world to-day is to induce the people every- 
where to understand that they are all children of the one Greac 
Father, and that they have a common aim and destiny. These 
fraternal organizations are doing their full share to banish 
selfishness and hate from the hearts of the people wherever 
they have been established. If I could will it to be done, I 
would have the whole world one mammoth Fraternal Order, 
and I would have God himself the Supreme Grand Master of 
them all. I believe that day is coming,— speed the time when it 
shall be ushered in. "He that would be great among you, let 
him be the servant of all." 

Like a silver rivulet winding down the mountain side, leap- 
ing from rock to rock and dancing in the sunlight, has Free- 
masonry swept across the ages, singing its undying song of 
charity and peace, gladdening all hearts, and scattering flowers 
at the feet of the heartsore and the downcast of the earth. It 
will not be long until all of us will bunch our working tools and 
surrender our trusts. "When the silver cord is loosened and the 
golden bow T l is broken," if we have walked upon the level and 
acted by the square, the Freemason will be rewarded for all the 
work he has done, for he will have sustained in life and trans- 
mitted in death, unsullied and undimmed, a fabric of benevo- 
lence and virtue, the noblest and the best that has ever been 
erected for the betterment of the human race. 

We shall soon return from here, my fellow citizens, to our 
various avocations. The storms as they come and go will beat 
upon the walls which will rise above this corner-stone. Let us 
hope, my brothers, that the lightning's shafts will spare this 
edifice, and may God's best blessings be showered upon our 
State. May faith and peace and good will to men shed their 
benign influence upon the officers who shall occupy its portals 
and sit beneath its dome; and may the shadow of the centuries 
gently hover over the work we have done to-day. 

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people 
whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance." 



Republican State Convention. 



REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTION. 

Interview of Governor Atkinson in the Charleston Mail Tribune, 

July 13, 1900. 



The Governor, who witnessed all the proceedings of the Con- 
vention, was asked what he thought of the ticket. He replied: 

"It is a good one, and could not be bettered. The Republican 
party in West Virginia never was more enthusiastic than it is 
to-day. It enters the contest with an assurance of victory in 
advance. It is gratifying to me to have so good a ticket, from 
McKinley down. 

'T am all right. I stand for McKinley and Roosevelt, major- 
ity and ratification, and am opposed to Bryan and Stevenson, 
buncoing and soup houses. I shall vote with pleasure for 
White, wages and work, and against Holt, humbugs and hun- 
ger. I believe in protection and prosperity, and am opposed to 
reaction and retribution. I stand with the Republican party 
for expansion and enterprise, and am opposed to contraction 
and cussedness. The Republican party gets up and gets. The 
Democratic party growls and grumbles. The Republican 
party stands for country and courage. The Democra- 
tic party stands for crankiness and cowardice. The 
Republican party stands for the nation's credit. The Demo- 
cratic party stands for the Nation's crucifixion. The Kepubli- 
can party stands for progress. The Democratic party 
stands for the past. The Republican party plows with 
a cultivator. The Democratic party plows, like the Chi- 
nese, with a wooden plow. The Kepublican party has adopted 
the arc light. The Democratic party sticks to the tallow dip. 
The Republican party shoots breech-loaders and Krupp guns. 
The Democratic party shoots flint-locks and smooth-bores. 
The Republican party is a twenty-story edifice. The Democratic 
party stays on the ground floor. The Kepublican party uses an 
elevator. The Democratic party climbs the old-fashioned stair- 
ways. The Republican party^, always aggressive, moves for- 
ward; while the Democratic party is lobster-headed— looks for- 
ward and crawls backward. The Republican party believes in 



500 Public Addresses, &c 3 of Gov. G. YV. Atkinson. 



one hundred-cent dollars; the Democratic party believes in fift y- 
cent dollars to pay one-hundred-cent debts. The Republican 
party is bounded on the North by all of its promises fulfilled; 
on the South by prosperity and progress; on the East by Mc- 
Kinley protection, and on the West by Roosevelt and the Rough 
Riders. 

"The Democratic party is bounded on the North by broken 
pledges; on the South by negro disfranchisement; on the East 
by Croker, the Tammany Tiger and the Ice Trust, and on the 
West by Bryanism, Populism, the Eillipinos, cowboys, sage- 
brush, anarchy, desolation and despair. And still the Demo- 
crats claim that they are going to elect Br3 T an and Aguinaldo. 
They will never do it while White's head is red and we continue 
to dig 20,000,000 tons of coal a year out of the bowels of West 
Virginia. We will bury the wbole Democratic hulk this year 
like the old Scotch Presbyterian woman said she had buried his 
Satanic majesty— with his face downwards, so that the more he 
scratched the deeper down he would go. 



EXECUTIVE ORDER, 



State of West Virginia, 
Enecutive Chamber, 
Charleston, W. Va. 

Whereas, On the 21st day of May, A. D., 1895, one James 
Dudley was tried, and convicted on an indictment for murder, 
by the Circuit Court of Mingo county, and was sentenced to the 
penitentiary for the term of eighteen years by said Court; and 

Whereas, On the 8th day of April, A. D., 1899, 1, as Governor 
of the State, released the said Dudley from further confinement 
in the penitentiary upon parole, under the provisions set out in 
section 20 of Chapter XIV of the Code, which conditional pa- 
role was accepted by the said Dudley before he was released 
from prison. The provisions of said parole are in the language 
following, to-wit: "I release him (Dudley) on parole, and with 
the distinct proviso that if he, the said Dudley, shall at any 
time hereafter violate any of the penal laws of West Virginia, 



Labor Day Proclamation. 



501 



he shall be returned to the penitentiary, and shall be required to 
serve the remainder of the sentence imposed by the Court in 
this case." And 

Whereas, It has been clearly proven that the said Dudley did 
on the 12th day of July, A. D., 1899, feloniously attempt to 
murder one Capt. A. P. Parlor and therefore violated his said 
parole. Therefore, I, George W. Atkinson, Governor of the 
State of West Virginia, do hereby order, by virtue of the au- 
thority conferred upon me by Section 20 of Chapter XIV of 
the Code of this State, that the said James Dudley shall be re- 
turned to the penitentiary, and shall be required to serve the 
remainder of the sentence imposed upon him by the Circuit 
Court of the County of Mingo, entered on the 21st day of May, 
1895, in the Circuit Court Clerk's office of said county. 

It is further ordered that X. J. Keadle, Esq., Sheriff of Mingo 
county, shall forthwith return the said James Dudley to the 
Slate's prison at Moundsville under the conditions hereinbefore 
expressed; and the Warden of the said prison is hereby directed 
to receive the said Dudley and confine him according to the 
rules of the prison for the remainder of the sentence of the Court 
as originally entered. 

Given under my hand and the Seal of the State of West Vir- 
ginia, this 19th day of July, A. D., 1899, and in the 37th year 
of the State. 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor. 

By the Governor, 

Wm. M 0. Dawson, 

Secretary of State. 



LABOR DAY PROCLAMATION. 



State of West Virginia, 
Executive Chamber. 
The State of West Virginia, by its Legislature, having passed 
a law setting apart the first Monday of September of each 
year as 



502 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



LABOR DAY, 

and at which time all toilers should step aside from their regu- 
lar employment and give such day to rest, improvement, and 
enjoyment. 

Now, therefore, I, George W. Atkinson, Governor of the State 
of West Virginia, do hereby recommend and request that on 

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1900, 

all places where labor is employed within the State of West 
Virginia, shall, as far as possible so to do, be shut down, so that 
all toilers may be permitted to enjoy this day as one of rest 
from all cares and duties. In this manner, better than any 
other, the dignity and worth of labor can be brought to the 
attention of the public, and its value to the country at large 
may be more fully understood and appreciated. 



"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou re- 
turn unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust 
thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Genesis, 3: 19. 

"Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work." Exodus, 
20: 9. 

"For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands: happy shalt 
thou be, and it shall be well with thee." Psalm, 128: 2. 

"In all labor there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth 
only to penury." Proverbs, 14: 23. 

"The labor of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the 
wicked to sin." Proverbs, 10: 16. 

"Man goeth forth unto his work, and to his labor until the 
evening." Psalm, 104: 23. 

"He that gathereth in summer is a wise son; but he that 
sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame." Proverbs, 
10: 5. 

"He that tilleth his land shall have plenty' of bread: but he 
that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough." 
Proverbs, 28: 19. 

"Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished; but he that 
gathereth by labor shall increase." Proverbs, 13: 11. 

"There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat 



Labor Day Proclamation. 



503 



and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his 
labor. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God." 
Ecclesiastes, 2: 24. 

"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward 
for their labor." Ecclesiastes, 4: 9. 

"The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or 
much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to 
sleep." Ecclesiastes, 5: 12. 

"So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together 
unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work." 
N eh em i ah, 4: 6. 

"Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, 
working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may 
have to give to him that needeth." Ephesians, 4: 28. 

"And labor, working with our own hands: being reviled, we 
bless; being persecuted, we suffer it." /. Corinthians, 4: 12. 

"Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and 
every man shall receive his own reward according to his own 
labor." I. Corinthians, 3: 8. 

"The husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker of the 
fruits." II. Timothy, 2: 6. 

"But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he 
came to the first, and said, son, go to work to-day in my vine- 
yard." Matthew, 22: 28. 

"And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, 
and to work with your own hands as we commanded you." /. 
Thessalonians, 4: 11. 

"For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, 
that if any would not work, neither should he eat." II. Thes- 
salonians, 2: 10. 

"For the workman is worthy of his meat." Matthew, 10: 10. 



In witness whereof, I have set my hand and caused the great 
seal of the State to be affixed, at the capital in the city of 
Charleston, this 26th day of July, in the year of our Lord, 
1900, and of the State the 38th. 

[Seal.] G. W. Atkinson. 

By the Governor, 

Wm. M. 0. Dawson, 
Secretary of State. 



504 Pcblic Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



CORNER-STONE ADDRESS. 

An Address by Governor Geo. W. Atkinson, at the Laying of 
the Corner-Stone of the New Administration Building of 
the Boys Reform School, at Prunytown, West 
Va., August 15, 1900. 



Members of the Masonic Fraternity, Ladies and Gentle- 
men: 

This is a gala day for the historic borough of Prunytown. 
We are assembled here to-day as citizens and Freemasons, and 
better than all as Americans. We rejoice over present condi- 
tions and future prospects. We rejoice over the progress of our 
great country, and we specially rejoice over the growth and 
prosperity of our own State. No other State in the Union is 
keeping pace with our own beloved "Mountain State.'" It is 
but a question of a very few years for West Virginia to be rank- 
ed among the leading Commonwealth's of the Republic. Na- 
ture did much for us, and we ourselves are now doing the rest. 
We are in the van of progress, and we are in the procession to 
stay. Our waste-places are rapidly building up, and our peo- 
ple are accordingly glad. In everything that pertains to civil- 
ization, growth and progress, we, as West Virginians, have 
forged to the fore-front; and while we are now in the midst of 
an age of dazzling splendor, I regard it as but the pressage of 
a more marvelous development which is yet to follow. Well 
may we, my friends, rejoice and be glad. 

We have assembled to-day with the Grand Lodge of Free- 
masons of West Virginia, to lay the corner-stone of what is 
soon to be one of the splendid public buildings of the growing- 
State of West Virginia. A building which, when completed, will 
be an honor and an ornament to any State of the Union; a 
building splendid in its apportionments, beautiful in architec- 
ture and design, costly in construction, and better than all, in- 
tended exclusively for educational and reformatory purposes; a 
building wherein it is intended to instruct a portion of our West 
Virginia youth in the art of doing something, and doing it cor- 
rectly; to fit them for taking honorable part in the development 



Corner Stone Address. 



505 



of themselves as well as their State; to make them useful men, 
intelligent men, honorable men; to fit them for practical occu- 
pations and to give them confidence in, and respect for, them- 
selves. All of these boy inmates of this institution are bright 
fellows. Indeed, they are exceptionally shrewd. They inherent- 
ly possess the materials which make real manhood. They, 
therefore, can be moulded into great and good men, if they are 
properly handled and carefully guided. It was the purpose of 
the State in establishing this public institution, to so conduct 
it as to make intelligent, useful men out of these apparently 
hopeless, hapless, reckless, thoughtless boys; and my candid 
judgment is that we are going to accomplish this laudable under- 
taking. No one, my hearers, can foresee the possibilities of 
these formerly unfortunate youth. Every one of them has a 
man in him. The aim of the State, in planting this reforma- 
tory institution, was to evolve the upright man out of the reck- 
less boy. A shapeless block of marble contains a man, if it is 
placed in the sculptors studio. With chisel and mallet he can- 
not fail to work out the result. These boys are all embryo men, 
and it is left for the State, through its officers and teachers 
here, to develop the real characters which God has implanted 
within the bosoms of these youth who stand uncovered in our 
presence to-day. Some of the worked out statues will no doubt 
be failures, but my expectation is that the most of them will 
turn out to be well rounded, intelligent, useful men of the State. 
It depends, however, largely upon the boys themselves as to 
what the result will be. If they will heed the advice of their 
superintendent and their teachers, every one of them will prove 
a success and not a failure. Every one of them can be a man, 
and not a cipher. All of them, I trust, will be digits,— standing 
for something, even if they stand alone. I have seen enough of 
the youth here at this institution, and the manner of their 
training, to induce me to take stock in them, and I, therefore, 
desire every one of them to understand that I am his friend, and 
stand ready, at any and all times, to lend him a helping hand. 

The twentieth century, my fellow citizens, calls for many 
sided men. They are wanted in all the learned professions. 
They are wanted as lawyers, ministers, physicians, teachers, 
scientists, mechanics and farmers. They are wanted every- 
where as thinkers, philosophers, leaders and workers. They are 
wanted, indeed, in every avocation of human life. The way is 



506 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



open for one and all, and I would have you not forget that the 
best brain and the best energy will win in all of these callings. 
If we can induce these boys to understand that the way is open, 
now and at all times, to the best brain, brawn and muscle, and 
that they themselves will have an equal chance with all comers, 
rich or poor, we will have accomplished our purpose in the erec- 
tion of this splendid new building at the public expense. 

The State itself bids for the highest accomplishments in all 
callings. Fortunately for all classes of our people, it has been 
thoroughly tested and found to be true, that family, blood or 
previous condition cuts no figure in the race for supremacy 
among men. The old argument that blood must betaken into 
consideration in the educational process of making real men, 
has been forever relegated to the rear. It is better to have a 
horse without a pedigree, then to have a pedigree without a 
horse. Brains, not blood, win in the race that is now and will 
be forever on in the driving, go-ahead age in which we are now 
living. We want these boys to feel and know that the race for 
success in life lies in grit and get-up-and-get, and not in blood 
or color or prestige or family or name. Fortunately it is now 
understood and known to be a contest between education, en- 
ergy and somebody, on the one hand, and not family, non- 
sense and nothing on the other. The boy who has something in 
him will win, and the one who has nothing in him, and who has 
no ideal, will fail, and he ought to. Thank God, the way is open 
to all alike, and the swiftest runners will be crowned the victors 
in the contest. This, my friends, is God's law, and it cannot be 
set aside. We are beginning now to understand that it has, 
notwithstanding our prejudices and our predilections, always 
prevailed, and it always will prevail, however much we may en- 
deavor to overrule it. 

It has been my principal purpose, my fellow citizens, for many 
years past, to inspire the young people of our State, as best I 
could, to reach out for high ideals in life. The young man or the 
young women who possesses laudable ambitions, and is inspir- 
ed by the beauty and power of enthusiasm, rarely, if ever, fails 
in making a record worthy of the aspirations of good people 
everywhere. To what end or purpose is society, popular educa- 
tion, churches, and all the machinery of culture, if no living truth 
is elicited which fertilizes as w 7 ell as enlightens those involved in ail 
of these varied processes of development and growth? Shake- 



Corner Stone Address. 



507 



speare undoubtedly owed his marvelous insight into the human 
soul, to his profound sympathy with mankind. He might have 
conned w<hole libraries on the philosophy of human passion; he 
might have coldly observed facts for years, and never have con- 
ceived of jealousy like Othello's, the remorse of Macbeth, or love 
like that of J uliet. When the native sentiments are once interest- 
ed , new facts spring to light. It was under this excitement of won- 
der and love, that Lord Byron, tossed on the lake of Geneva, 
thought "Jura answered from her misty shroud," responsive to 
the thunder of the Alps. If one will inject heart and soul into 
what he does, foster enthusiasm, and bravely obey his sympa- 
thetic tendencies for his fellows, he will find in his candid and 
devoted relations with others, freedom from the constraints of 
prejudice and form, and thus summon into the horizon of des- 
tiny those hues of beauty, love and truth, which are at all times 
the most glorious reflections of the soul 

History and romance, my young friends, offer nothing more 
fascinating to the young people of a free country, than the 
pathway to success in life under difficulties and besetments 
which, under the divine plan, must confront every individual. 
Every great achievement in the world's history, like liberty it- 
self, had to win its triumph through opposition, and through 
an opposition which, at the time, seemed almost insurmounta- 
ble. It is hard work, indomitable energy, and "eternal hang- 
onativeness," as General Grant expressed it, which found the 
world chaos and transformed it into Parian marble, and which 
transferred civilization from the cradle of ignorance to the 
throne of power. Genius, born in destitution and adversity 
amid garrets and hovels, breaks through all environments, and 
reaches fortune and fame, as unerringly as the stars roll 
through invisible space. These, as a rule, are its birthplaces, 
and amid such surroundings, it struggles and emerges at last, 
suncrowned and brawned, and takes its place in the front ranks 
of all assemblies. Washington, some of you know, was threat- 
ened because he would not surrender to the demands of an ex- 
cited populace; but he did not surrender. The Duke of Welling- 
ton w r as mobbed while his wife lay dead in his home, because he 
refused to surrender his manhood to the excited mob. The 
discoverer of oxygen w T as assaulted and his house was. burned 
by an excited mob, because he propagated new ideas in science. 
Bruno proclaimed new theories in astronomy, and was burned 



508 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. (I. W. Atkinson. 



in his studio at Rome, because he would not abandon his con- 
victions as to the needs and interests of hisfellow men. Versali- 
us was publicly condemned for dissecting the human body in the 
interest of science for the whole human race. Roger Bacon, one 
of the world's greatest thinkers, was persecuted and punished 
by being kept in prison for ten years, because he advocated new 
thoughts and new ideas of man's duty to man. Barnum, a 
poor, bare-foofc boy, through troubles innumerable, and by per- 
severance and grit, won his way to fortune and renown. Fire 
and blood cannot keep such men from success. Clergymen and 
statesmen, by tens of thousands, worked their ways from trades- 
men's benches to the highest rounds on the ladder of fame. 
Columbus was written down a fool, because he claimed that the 
world was round, and that a great, undiscovered country laid 
west of Spain. A new world was written upon his brain, and 
he never ceased struggling until he found it. Our own Ameri- 
can Congress honored itself by admitting skilled mechanics and 
artisans to seats within its halls. Roger Sherman, Henrv Wil- 
son, Gideon Lee, William Graham, John Halley, H. P. Baldwin, 
Daniel Sheffey, were all shoemakers. Lincoln was a surveyor. 
Johnson was a tailor. Garfield was a canal boatman, and 
Grant was a tanner; and yet all of these four statesmen ably 
filled the Presidential office. The founders of our greatest edu- 
cational institutions were poor boys. Horace Greely, who 
came from the farm, without money and with but a limited edu- 
cation, founded the New York Tribune by writing editorials on 
a barrel head. Gifford worked out his greatest problems with a 
shoemaker's awl, a hammer and a last. John Brighton, the 
author of "The Beauties of England and Wales," did the most 
of his work in bed, because he was too poor to afford the expense 
of a fire. Disraeli a member of a persecuted race, without edu- 
cation and opportunities, became the prime minister of Eng- 
land. Scofield and Erskine, ridiculed and rebuffed in the Eng- 
lish House of Commons at their first appearance as members, 
refused to be downed because of their humble and obscure origin, 
and by persistency and pluck left behind them names as imperish- 
able as brass. Thomas Carlyle and Hugh Miller were stone 
masons. Cardinal Wolseyand William Shakespeare and Henry 
Kirk White were butchers. Jeremy Taylor was a barber. 
Farady was the son of a blacksmith. Kepler was an elevator 
boy at a hotel. Sir Humphrey Davy was a druggist. John 



Corner Stone Address. 



509 



Bunyan was a tinker. Richard Cobden started his career in a 
London warehouse, and although his first speech in parliament 
was a failure, he subsequently became one of the greatest ora- 
tors of England. Marshal Ney rose from the rank of a private 
soldier. Admirals Faragut and Dewey were boatswains. Mc- 
Kinley and Bryan were country lawyers. Lyman Beecher was 
a fiddler, and James Paxson was a jig dancer. Even the Christ 
himself was a carpenter by trade. My friends, what further 
evidence would you ask to sustain the statement that to suc- 
ceed one must have courage and the ability to paddle his own 
canoe, and more than these he does not need. A determined 
man cannot be kept from succeeding. Such an one uses stumb- 
ling blocks as stepping stones by which he climbs upward to 
victor}^. Cripple him, and he hobbles on; incarcerate him in 
prison, and he will, like Bunyan, write books for posterity. 
Back of all disappointments and mishaps, lies real manhood, 
and this element alone will push one to the front. 

Let us, my fellow citizens, teach the young people of our 
State that labor is the great schoolmaster of us all, and that 
industry and perseverance are the prices that all must pay for 
distinction in the callings in which we engage. If we can 
induce our young people to understand that it requires courage 
to persist in an undertaking, which many may term visionary; 
that it requires courage, at times, to wear poor clothes, and 
that it takes courage, real courage, to say no, when the major- 
ity will say yes, then we will have accomplished our purpose in 
putting them on the road which leads to real manhood and 
real success. 

"Some sow the seed, then sit and wait 
For suns to shine and rains to fall, 
And mourn the harvest comes so late, 
And fear it will not come at all. 

"Some, single-minded, still work on, 
Nor ever stop to understand; 
The rose-bloom of success is won, 
And harvests ripen at their hand." 

My fellow citizens, we as West Virginians should be, and 
doubtless are, justly proud of our educational institutions 
which are fostered by the State. We have the public schools, 
which are open to all comers, and are as near perfection as can 
be found in any other sister State. We have normal schools, 
distributed in available localities, that are furnishing interme- 



510 Public Addresses, kc, of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



diate training, and are fitting hundreds annually for the high- 
est courses of study. We have a University, largely attended 
by young men and youug wowen, who are equipping and train- 
ing themselves for the highest educational walks of life. We 
have this Reform School for boys, wherein the wayward and 
the recalcitrant youth are taught obedience, respect for law, for 
home and good society. W T e have a Girl's Industrial School or 
Home, where not only good morals, but industrial pursuits, 
and general instruction are imparted. We have churches 
wherein the Gospel of the Christ is preached, and the young 
and the old alike are taught to be upright and religious. We 
have all the appliances here in West Virginia to enlighten the 
ignorant, and to make the world happier and nobler and 
better. 

After all, my friends, there is nothing so valuable to mankind 
as education and culture; and there is nothing higher or nobler 
in life than that of teaching and educating those about us. 
Education is a companion which no misfortune can depress, no 
power can destroy, no enemy can alienate, no despotism can 
enslave. A greater orator than Erskine, in a great cause, said 
that "education is at home a friend, abroad an introduction, 
in solitude a solace, in society an ornament." It is education 
which lights the world by enlightening man. Prejudice and 
superstition vanish before it. It is above the arrogance of 
power. It crushes vice. It gives grace and government to 
genius, and order to the State. It is at once mighty and 
majestic. We should, therefore, my friends, count ourselves 
happy that we are permitted to participate in its benefits, and 
aid in every way we can in its universal dissemination among 
the people. 

From early manhood, my fellow citizens, I have devoted my 
best efforts to encourage educational work from the common 
school upward. While I may have done but little along these 
lines, I have nevertheless done my best, and I have reason to be- 
lieve that my efforts have not been entirely fruitless. This school, 
I am sure, has done a great work in regulating and reforming 
many of our reckless West Virginia boys, and yet it is but in 
its infancy. The field is broad, and this massive, new building 
is abundant evidence that the State itself means to stand 
behind the institution, and make it a blessing to our people 
and an honor to West Virginia. In its management thus far 



Corner Stoxe Address. 



511 



we have nothing* to regret, and in its future we have much to 
hope for. If the boys who are educated here, will go out from 
these walls with subdued' wills, self poised, and with noble aspi- 
rations, they cannot fail to be useful and intelligent citizens, 
thus honoring themselves and their State, and reflecting credit 
upon an institution which gave them their first uplift, and 
placed them in the highway which leads to useful and exalted 
manhood. 

In conclusion, my countrymen, permit me to extend public 
thanks to this great Order of Freemasons that has so kindly 
and beautifully placed this corner-stone for us to-day. It is 
not only a time honored fraternity, but it is a benevolent oue 
as well. It has strewn fresh flowers along the pathways of 
many who were weary and heart-sore. It has dispelled the 
dark clouds which hovered above many a sorrowing home. It 
has lifted up the fallen. It has comforted the sick, buried the 
dead, and provided for the widows and the orphans. It has 
given bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, and has in 
many ways raised mankind to higher ideals of life and duty. 
It is the foremost and the greatest of all secret fraternal 
organizations; and all of us, I am sure, feel honored by the 
presence of many of its members here to-day. May the bene- 
dictions of heaven rest upon them and all of us, and upon this 
institution and the pro ad and prosperous State of West Virginia 
now and forever more. 



REMOVAL OF NOTARY PUBLIC. 



Whereas, complaint has been made to me, George W. Atkin- 
son, Governor of the State of West Virginia, that William S. 
Brown, a Notary Public, in and for the County of Kanawha, 
and State of West Virginia, has, as such Notary Public, been 
guilty of malfeasance in office and official misconduct in the fol- 
lowing matters and things, that is to say: 

First Charge. — That heretofore, to wit: On the 31st day of 
July, 1900, and on divers other days before and since then, the 
said William S. Brown, as such Notary Public in the said Coun- 



512 Public Addresses &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



ty of Kanawha, did knowingly administer certain unlawful 
oaths to sundry persons being then and there qualified voters 
in said County, and which oaths were then and there taken and 
certified in the form of affidavits by the said Brown as such No- 
tary Public in and according to the following form:— 

State of West Virginia. 

County of Kanawha, SS. 

I, , do solemnly swear 

that I will not support or vote for the so-called Kanawha 
County Republican ticket as nominated at the primary election 
held in said County on the 19th day of May. 1900, being con- 
vinced that said ticket was nominated by fraud, and is not the 
choice of a majority of the Republican voters of said County; 
and I do further solemnly swear that I will use my best efforts 
to persuade and induce others to not vote for the said ticket. 
And I do further swear that I will never reveal to any person 
whatsoever, any of the plans, movements, methods, or efforts, 
of any person or persons connected with any movement or 
organization looking to the defeat or opposition to said so- 
called Republican ticket: and I do further solemnly swear that 
I will not reveal to any person the name of any persons connect- 
ed with, or taking any part in said movement or organization, 
so help me God. 

Taken, sworn to and subscribed before me, this day of 

, 1900. 

Post Oflice. Precinct. District. 

That the Kanawha County Republican ticket, mentioned 
above, was, and is a certain ticket embracing certain candi- 
dates for the House of Delegates from said Kanawha County, 
and certain candidates for County and District offices in said 
County, all of which offices are required to be filled by the laws 
of West Virginia at the general election to be held as provided 
by law on the 6th day of November, 1900; and said candidate^ 
were chosen at a Primary election held in said County by the 
Republican party, on the 19th day of May, 1900, and will be 
candidates for the several officps to which they were nominated 
as aforesaid on the said ticket at said general election to be 
held on the 6th day of November, 1900. That the purpose and 
object of the said Brown, as such Notary Public in administer 



Removal of Notary Public. 



518 



ing said oaths and taking said affidavits, was with the unlaw- 
ful intent and purpose on his part of unduly influencing and 
controlling the said voters who took said oaths and made said 
affidavits in their selection of candidates for said offices at said 
general election, and to keep said voters from voting at said 
general election for candidates for said offices, as they might 
wish to do and would do, if they had not taken said oaths, and 
to make said voters believe that said illegal oaths and affi- 
davits were a moral obligation to keep and perform, contrary 
to the public policy of the State of West Virginia, and to the 
rights and duties of said voters as citizens thereof, exercising 
the right of suffrage. 

Second Charge, — That the said oaths and affidavits taken by 
the said Brown, as such Notary Public, as set out in the first 
charge above, were obtained through his solicitation of the 
parties making such oaths, that they should take such illegal 
oaths, and said parties were solicited and persuaded by the 
said Brown, as such Notary Public to take such oaths, and did 
take the same as the result of such solicitation upon the part 
of said Brown. 

Third Charge,— That the said Brown, being such Notary 
Public, heretofore, to-wit: On the 1st day of July, 1900, entered 
into an agreement with certain unknown person or persons, by 
which he the said Brown, did then and there unlawfully and 
illegally agree that as such Notary Public he would endeavor 
to obtain from divers and sundry voters of Kanawha county 
the oaths and affidavits set out in the first charge above; and 
the said oaths and affidavits were obtained by the said Brown, 
as such Notary Public, in pursuance of said illegal and unlaw- 
ful agreement. 

Fourth Charge,— That the said Brown, as such Notary Public, 
with the unlawful intent of soliciting divers and sundry voters 
in said county, to take and make the said unlawful oaths and 
affidavits set out in the first charge above, did heretofore, to- 
wit : on the first day of July, 1900, procure and obtain and 
have in his possession a large number of printed slips contain- 
ing the form of said illegal oaths and affidavits, and did use 
said printed slips in taking said oaths and affidavits from the 
voters in said county, and that the purpose of said Brown in 
having said printed slips was, amongst other things, that he 
might the more readily obtain as large a number as possible 



514 Public Addresses, &c., of Got. G. W. Atkinson. 



of said illegal oaths and affidavits from the voters of said 
county. 

Fifth Charge,— That the said Brown, as such Notary Public, 
in administering the oaths and taking the affidavits as above 
set forth, did pay and offer and promise to pay money and 
other things of value to the voters who took said oaths, and 
made said affidavits for the purpose of obtaining said oaths 
and affidavits, and said voters or some of them did, because 
of the payment of such money and other things of value, and 
because of the said offer and promises to pay such money and 
other things of value, take said oaths and make said affidavits. 

And deeming it proper that the charges aforesaid of malfeas- 
ance in office and official misconduct against the said Brown as 
such Notary Public should be investigated and heard in order 
to determine the truth or falsity thereof, and if true whether 
the said Brown should on account thereof be removed by me 
from his said office as Notary Public. 

It is, therefore, ordered that a hearing and investigation of 
the charges aforesaid be had and commenced before me in my 
office in the Capitol building in the city of Charleston, Kanawha 
county, West Virginia, on the 15th day of September, 1900, at 
two o'clock p. m., and that a copy of this order, attested by E. 
L. Boggs, private secretary, be served upon the said Win. S. 
Brown at least five days before the said 15th day of September, 
1900, in order that he may have the opportunity to appear 
before me on said day and be heard in his defense against said 
charges. 

Given under my hand at the Executive Chamber, in the city 
of Charleston, this 21st day of August, A. D. 1900. and of the 
State the thirty-eighth. 

G. W. Atkixsox. 
A true copy— Teste : Governor. 
E. L. Boggs, 

Private Secretary. 



EXECUTIVE ORDER. 



It having become known to me that William S. Brown, a No- 
tary Public, in and for the County of Kanawha, and State of 



Executive Order. 



515 



West Virginia, has administered unlawful oaths to certain citi- 
zens of said county, which oaths pretend to obligate the person 
taking the same that such person will not vote for certain can- 
dates for public offices to be voted for at the forthcoming gen- 
eral election, which oath is in the following form: 

"State of West Virginia, County of Kanawha, ss: 

"I, , do solemnly swear that I will not 

support or vote for the so-called Kanawha County Republican 
ticket as nominated at the primary election held in said county 
on the 19th day of May, 1900, being convinced that said ticket 
was nominated by fraud, and is not the choice of a majority of 
the Republican voters of said county, and I do further solemnly 
swear that I will use my best efforts to persuade and induce 
others to not vote for said ticket. And I do further swear that 
I will never reveal to any person whatsoever any of the plans, 
movements, methods, or efforts of any person or persons con- 
nected with any movements or organization looking to the de- 
feat of or opposition to said so-called Republican ticket, and I 
do further solemnly swear that I will not reveal to any person 
the name of any persons connected with or taking any part in 
said movement or organization, so help me God. 
"Taken, sworn to and subscribed before me, this day 



The administration of such an oath is contrary to public pol- 
icy, is a species of intimidation, and the act of said Notary 
Public in administering the same is a case of gross official mis- 
conduct. The right of the elective franchise is the highest right 
that a citizen can exercise in a republican form of government; 
and no public official of Kanawha county, or any other county 
in this State, can lawfully administer an oath to any voter 
which will limit him in any manner in the full and free exercise 
of this great right, aceording to his honest convictions at the 
time of casting his ballot. To attempt to intimidate a voter, 
and place him under duress, and thereby limit his right to vote 
for whom he pleases by administering to him an oath, more 
than two months before the election, that he will vote for cer- 
tain persons, or will not vote for certain persons, is a violation 
of law and a crime against good government and good morals. 
No voter has a legal or moral right to take and subscribe to 



of 

Postoffice 



., 1900. 
, Precinct 



District 



51 6 Public Addresses &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



such an oath, and no public officer can legally administer it. 
Such an oath being unlawful and against public policy, is not 
binding in law nor in good morals, and is therefore absolutely 
null and void. 

It was also established by the testimony taken before me in 
this case that Notary Brown held out inducements to certain 
voters to take said oaths in the form of a consideration of 
money or its equivalent. Such inducements cannot be consid- 
ered otherwise than as bribeiy, which is felony under our stat- 
utes. 

Notaries Public are authorized to administer lawful oaths 
only; not unlawful ones. All such oaths as the one above quo- 
ted or which attempt to abridge the rights and liberties of a 
citizen are unlawful, and have no binding force or effect in law 
or in morals upon the persons who took and subscribed to 
them. Notaries Public are appointed for the convenience of the 
public, and not for the purpose of corrupting the people. It is, 
therefore, proper that their acts should be carefully supervised 
by the power that creates them for the reason that they are not 
restricted by a tenure of office, except good beha vior, nor are 
they directly amenable to the people who elect other officials. 

The Constitution and Statutes confer upon the Governor the 
power to remove from office any officer whom he may appoint 
for official misconduct, incompetency, neglect of duty, gross 
immorality or malfeasance in office. These provisions not only 
confer upon the Governor the right of removal of a Notary 
Public from office, but make it his duty to do so when proper 
cause is clearly established. 

Now, therefore, I, George W. Atkinson, Governor of the State 
of West Virginia, do hereby revoke the commission of William 
S. Brown as Notary Public in and for the county of Kanawha, 
and he is hereby directed to return his commission of office to 
the Secretary of State of the State of West Virginia; and the 
Clerk of the County Court of Kanawha County is directed to 
record this Executive Order in his office, and that any act or 
acts of said Notary on and after this date are null and void. 

Given under my hand at the Executive 
Chamber, in the City of Charleston, this 
15th day of September, 1900, and the 
thirty-eighth year of the State. 

G. W. Atkinson. 

By the Governor: 

Wm. M. O. Dawson, 

Secretary of State, 



Proclametion by the Governor. 



517 



PROCLAMATION BY THE GOVERNOR. 



State of West Virginia, 

Executive Department. 
I, G. W. Atkinson, Governor of the State of West Virginia, 
Pursuant to the Constitution and laws of the United States of 
America and of the laws of this State, do hereby issue this, my 
proclamation, announcing to the voters of the State of West 
Virginia that on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in 
November, in the year one thousand and nine hundred, an elec- 
tion will be had, held and conducted throughout the State at 
the various voting precincts thereof, for the purpose of choos- 
ing six electors for President aud Vice-President of the United 
States. 

Given under my hand and the Great 
Seal of State, at the City of Charleston 
[Seal. J on this the 4th day of September, 1900, 

and of the State the thirty-eighth. 

G. W. Atkinson, 

By the Governor: 

Wm. M. W. Dawson. 

Secretary of State. 



EXECUTIVE ORDER. 



State of West Virginia, 

Executive Chamber. 
Whereas, at the February term, 1898, one Jack Hender- 
shott was tried and convicted of a Felony by the Criminal 
Court of Wood County, and was sentenced to the Penitentiary 
of this State for the term of five years by said Court; and, 

Whereas, on the 24th day of July, 1900, I as Governor of 
the State of West Virginia released the said Hendershott from 



518 Public Addresses, &c 3 of Grov. G. W. Atkinson. 



the Penitentiary upon parole, and in so doing I used the 
language following, to-wit: — "I concur in above opinion of the 
Advisory Board of Pardons, and direct Jack Hendershott's 
release from the Penitentiary, but it must be understood and 
agreed by the said Hendershott that should he be guilty of any 
felony at any time in the future, he shall be returned to the 
Penitentiary and shall be required there to serve the full terra 
of imprisonment fixed by the Court in this case — (See Section 
20 of Chapter 14 of the Code"; and, 

Whereas, it has been clearly proven before me that the said 
Hendershott has been indicted for a felony in the Criminal 
Court of Wood County since I granted a parole based upon his 
good behavior in the future, and also that said Hendershott 
has been conducting himself in an unlawful manner in said 
Wood County in many and diverse ways which have forfeited 
the conditions of his parole, 

Therefore, I, G. W. Atkitson, Governor of the State of 
West Virginia, by the authority vested in me by Section 20 of 
Chapter 14 of the Code of this State, do hereby order and 
direct the Sheriff of Wood County to return the said Jack Hen- 
dershott to the Penitentiary at Moundsville, where he shall be 
required to serve the remainder of the term of the sentence 
originally imposed upon him by the Judge of the Criminal 
Court of said Wood County, and the Superintendent of the 
Penitentiary is hereby directed to receive the said Hendershott 
as a prisoner therein. 

It is further ordered that the Sheriff of Wood County shall be 
allowed and paid his lawful fees for executing this Executive 
Order, as provided by the Section and Chapter of the laws of 
West Virginia herein cited. 

Given under my hand and the Less 
Seal of the State of West Virginia, at 
[Seal.] Charleston, this 27th day of Septem- 

ber, in the year of our Lord, 1900, 
and of the State the 38th. 

G. W. Atkinson, 

By the Governor: 

Wm. M. W. Dawson, 

Secretary of State. 



Thanksgiving Proclamation. 



519 



THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION. 



In all Christian lands; every year, for generations past, one 
day is set apart as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God for 
His benefactions to mankind. Therefore, I, George W. Atkin- 
son, Governor of the State of West Virginia, do call upon all 
of our people, within the limits of the State, to observe 

Thursday, November 29th, 1900, 

for the furtherance of this commendable custom; and I request 
as many as can conveniently do so, to assemble together in 
places dedicated to public worship, that God may be glorified 
and honored for his unnumbered kindnesses and mercies which 
He has bestowed upon us. 

To God we raise our hearts in praise, 

And of His mercies sing; 
In prayer we bow before His throne, 

To Him our trophies bring, 
Our faith in Him is one, 

For peace and plenty, joy and rest, 

Thanksgivings here we raise, 
In public and in private place 

His mercies we now praise, 
Our trust in Him is one. 

Years and cycles come and go, 

And roll forever on 
Adown the corridors of time, 

God's will, not ours be done, 
Our hope in Him is one. 

[Seal.] Done at the City of Charleston, this 1st day 

of November, in the year of our Lord, 1900, 
and of the State the thirty -eighth. 

G. W. Atkinson. 

By the Governor, 

Wm. M. 0. Dawson, 

Secretarv of State. 



520 Public Addresses, &c, of Got. G. W. Atkinson. 



UNIFORM NATIONAL DIVORCE LAW. 



State of West Virginia, 

Executive Chamber, 
Charleston, November 9, 1900. 

Mr. Gilson Willets, 

"Christian Herald," 
No. 91 Bible House, 

New York City. 

My Dear Sir— 

Replying to your letter of the 7th iust., I wish to say that, in 
my opinion, we should have a uniform and just National divorce 
law; one which will apply alike in every State and Territory of 
the Republic. So many of our States have laws that are loose 
and indifferent relative to the abolishing of marital relations, 
that the matter of procuring divorces has become disgusting 
to intelligent, fair-minded people. In my own experience, 1 
know of a number of persons who have been divorced by mak- 
ing applications in remote States from where the parties reside. 
Bills have been filed and advertisements inserted in local news- 
papers, and, as a matter of fact, one of the parties to the mar- 
ital contract knew nothing about the application for divorce 
until it was granted by the court. This, of course, is all wrong, 
and I am sure the best sentiment of modern civilization is uni- 
versally against it. Your idea of having a universal divorce 
law, one which applies to all the States alike, is a proper one, 
and I can see no reason why all the States and Territories can- 
not be induced to agree upon a law which will be acceptable to 
all alike. I have not given the matter close enough attention 
to suggest anything as to the practical features or character 
of the law which ought to be adopted. I am sure, however, that 
such a law is possible and plausible, and that your effort to 
secure the adoption of the same can be made successful. I 
commend your enterprise in the matter, and trust that your 
efforts along this line may prove successful. 

I have the honor to be, 

Your most obedient servant, 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Governor of West Virginia. 



A Sentence Expeession on National Thanksgiving. 521 



A SENTENCE EXPRESSION ON NATIONAL THANKS- 
GIVING. 



State of West Virginia, 
Executive Chamber, 
Charleston, November 10, 1900. 

To "The World," 

New York, 

N. Wi- 
lly answer to your one sentence inquiry, by telegraph, as to 
what we as a Nation should be most thankful for is, An open 
Bible, the Christian Religion, our efficient Public School System 
in all of the States, and the manifest higher conception of life 
and duty by the better element of our people generally through- 
out the land. 

Very respectfully, 

G. W. Atkinson, 

Governor of West Va. 



Message. 



523 



GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE. 



Executive Department, 

Charleston, West Virginia, 

January 9, 1901. 

Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Delegates: 

The time has come again for you to assemble as a body to 
legislate for the interests of the people of the State, and I con- 
gratulate you upon the auspicious circumstances which sur- 
round you. Contentment is manifest on every hand. Labor is 
employed. Farmers are prosperous. Money is plentiful. Busi- 
ness, in all of its avenues, was never better. Capital is yielding 
a fair reward to its holders. No scourge, of any sort, has visited 
us since your last assembling. The clouds of war, which hung 
over us two years ago, have dispersed. The glory of the Nation 
has been extended. Manufacturers were never more prosperous 
since West Virginia's admission to the sisterhood of States. 
Our industries are on an upward tide. Money was never more 
plentiful. Our population is rapidly increasing. Our laws have 
been rigidly enforced. Our schools, of all grades, are moving 
forward, and are steadily widening their scope of influence and 
power. The song of the saw is heard, early and late, along our 
vales and hillsides, transforming our timber into lumber for 
which there is constant demand. New mines are opening in all 
of the available sections of the State, and the "dusky diamond.'' 
which is more valuable than gold, is being brought to the sur- 
face, thereby pouring millions of treasure into the lap of com- 
merce. We owe no State debt. Capital is coming within our 
borders for profitable investment. In short, in the midst of 
health and plenty, our citizens are taking a mighty hand in the 
development of the resources with which a Benificent Provi- 
dence has bestowed upon us as a people and a State. 

We are now the first of all the States in the production of car- 
bon oil and gas; second in coke production; third, and nearly 
second, in the output of coal, and are close to first place in lum- 
ber. At the present rate of development, it will not be long un- 
til we will take second place from Illinois in the production of 
coal, and first place from Pennsylvania in the manufacture of 
coke. With our seventeen thousand square miles of coal area, 
and our numerous and superior seams of all classes of bitumin- 
ous coals, it is only a question of a limited number of years for 
West Virginia to lead all of her sister States in this class of min- 
eral wealth. 



524 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



CONDITION OF THE STATE'S FINANCES. 

The Bi-ennial reports of the Auditor and Treasurer are com- 
plete State documents, and are at once evidence of the fact that 
these officers have been faithful to their trusts, and worthy of 
the confidence reposed in them by the voters of the State. I ask 
for these reports your careful perusal and inspection. 

At the close of the fiscal year, October 31, 1900, the balances 
in the Treasury were as follows: 

To the credit of the State Fund $ 228,819.96 

To the credit of the "General" School Fund, . . 387,400.71 
To the credit of the School Fund (Uninvested) . 518,468.55 
To the credit of the Irreducible School Fund . . 522,500.00 



Making a total balance of $1,057,249.22 

The treasury balance for the fiscal year of 1900 is worthy of 
special consideration, because of the fact that the Honorable Leg- 
islature, at its session two years ago, appropriated in the neighbor- 
hood of a half million dollars more money for public purposes, 
than had been appropriated at any preceding session, and yet 
the rate of taxation upon the property of the people of the State 
was not increased, and at the same time every State obligation 
has been met, no money has been borrowed for general pur- 
poses, and still the healthy balance shown by the Treasurer's 
annual report is found in the State Treasury. Without any de- 
sire on my part to laudate the present administration, it seems 
to me that this fact is a subject of congratulation to the people 
of West Virginia. 

TEMPORARY LOANS. 

Under the provisions of Section 26 of Chapter 14 of the Code, 
I borrowed from the Charleston National Bank the following 
sums of money for the purposes below mentioned: 
May 16, 1900, for Capitol Contingent and Repair Fund. .$2,000.00 
Mav 29, 1900, for Capitol Contingent and Repair Fund. . 1,000.00 
Aug. 23, 1900, for Capitol Contingent and Repair Fund. . 1,000.00 
July 2, 1900, for premiums on insurance policies at 

Weston Hospital 1,067.39 

Dec. 11, 1900, for Board of West Virginia Commission- 
ers to Pan-American Exposition 10,000.00 

All of these loans were secured at the rate of 6 per cent, per 
annum. 

The Capitol Contingent and Repair Fund, on account of the 
construction of a new system of boilers, exhausted the appro- 
priation for repair purposes of the Capitol building, and it was 
necessary to replenish said fund by the loans above mentioned. 

The system of insurance upon the State's properties was en- 



Message. 



525 



tirely changed; the forms of the policies were all made concur- 
rent; the amount of insurance formerly carried upon many of 
the buildings was materially reduced, and all of the policies were 
re-written practically at the same time and for the period of 
five years, by which arrangement two-fifths of the premiums 
were saved to the State. It therefore became necessary to borrow 
the |1,067.39 above mentioned in order to properly classify the 
State's insurance, and at the same time procure the savings 
above mentioned. 

The loan secured for the Pan-American Exposition I have 
fully discussed under that particular head. 

STATE INSTITUTIONS. 

It has been the policy of West Virginia, from its organization, 
to make liberal provisions and appropriations for the relief of 
the poor and unfortunate, and for the custody and reformation 
of the vicious. The results of this policy have been highly cred- 
itable to the enlightened humanity of her legislation. The re- 
formatory, charitable, educational and penal institutions under 
her immediate control, are well and carefully administered, and 
without a single exception, are in most satisfactory conditions. 

In many respects the most important department of charitable 
work is that which deals with the young. With many other classes 
of the dependent and unfortunate, whether their condition is 
due to inheritance, to vic^ or to mischance, the problem present- 
ed is simply how best to provide for their humane custody and 
control until death shall bring relief; but with children, even 
those who begin life under adverse conditions, the problem is at 
once more difficult and more hopeful. In the interest both of 
humanity and a wise economy, special effort should be made to 
render as favorable as possible the opportunities for growth into 
worthy manhood which the State extends to the children com- 
mitted to its charge. 

THE DEAF AND BLIND SCHOOLS. 

The Schools for the Deaf and Blind, at Romney, have grown 
to such proportions that some action should be taken with ref- 
erence to better accommodations, either in the way of enlarging 
the present buildings, or a separation of the Schools. The latter 
plan appeals to my judgment, feeling as I do, that there is no 
parallelism in the class-work, nor congeniality in personal as- 
sociation between the two departments. 

Under the present arrangement, some parts of the build- 
ing, such as dining-room, lavatories, shops and dormitories have 
to be used in common, and this brings about inconveniences that 
cannot be eliminated except by separation. 



526 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



The methods of instruction and the grade of work are entire- 
ly dissimilar, and to administer one department successfully, 
almost precludes the other from its proper share of effective 
supervisory service, and it has long been my conviction, that 
these two classes should be under separate management. 

From official information received, the buildings at Romney 
would accommodate the Deaf of this State for a number of 
years, and the Blind could be located at some more accessible 
point, where there would be superior local advantages to those 
offered by the present location. One of our larger towns would 
afford a stimulus in the way of occasional lectures, and music 
which would inspire the Blind in the direction of their train- 
ing. Other States that have investigated this matter, have uni- 
formly decided, and most of them carried into effect, a separa- 
tion of the schools, and I would commend to your judgment this 
plan for a solution of the question which now presents itself for 
our consideration. To more clearly express my views on this 
important subject, I submit the following brief argument: — 

1. Separation is in line with the policy of the older schools 
that have tried the dual system, all of them having divided the 
work, and some of them many years ago, with the uniform re- 
sult of greatly increasing the efficiency and usefulness of the 
separated schools. There are only three or four considerable 
schools that have not yet divided the work, and the movement 
is on even in those, or has recently been, to place themselves on 
the better basis. 

2. The utter dissimilarity of methods of instruction in the 
two schools, and the incompatibility of disposition in the two 
classes of children, emphasize the necessity of prompt separa- 
tion from the children's standpoint; while the. crowded condi- 
tion of the buildings makes it peremptory as a matter of safety. 
It is a matter of common observation that the blind require more 
room than the deaf for their music and other special exercises. 
The portions of these buildings now occupied by the blind de- 
partment, if vacated, would make room for a hundred and fifty 
deaf pupils, possibly as much room as would be required for the 
natural increase of the school for ten or more years. They are 
now used by only fifty or sixty blind pupils. 

3. Out of such a division of the schools as would send the 
blind school to more suitable quarters, could grow no just cause 
of opposition from the neighborhood, as the present list of ap- 
plications would keep up the numbers to at least what they are 
now, and the school as a separate institution for the deaf would 
not be reduced. I am informed that there is absolutely no room 
for more deaf pupils, and no dining room capacity for any more 
pupils of any kind, and greatly increased facilities would have 
to be provided at Romney, if the schools are not separated; but 



Message. 



527 



by the separation, changes could be made that will give all the 
seating capacity for all the increase that is likely to come to us 
for years. There is no possibility of mixing the pupils so as to 
introduce deaf children to share the unoccupied space of the 
blind department, and the relief therefore must come from ex- 
tensions. 

4. It will cost scarcely more to make separate provision for 
the blind than it will to make room at Romney for both, and all 
the advantages to both classes that will accrue from a separa- 
tion will be lost, while all the disadvantages increase seriously 
with the increase of both school* under the present dual sys- 
tem. 

5. The remoteness of the present location of the schools op- 
erates disadvantageously to the blind for obvious reasons. They 
do not all come to the institution, and many of those who come 
do not remain to finish the course, while a few of these feel 
themselves obliged to seek school advantages in other States, 
where the schools will furnish them better advantages, as will 
be suggested below. 

G. The better location of a school for the blind will greatly 
facilitate their education by giving them opportunities of hear- 
ing choice performances in music and lectures from eminent 
scholars, privileges that never come to them at Romney. It will 
also furnish greatly increased market facilities for the sale of 
the products of their industrial training, and afford a field for 
the practice of the art of tuning musical instruments, one of 
the most available means of livelihood for blind people. 

7. Added to these great advantages, their education under a 
separate management, would afford them all the great results of 
a more personal and careful supervision in their work, a condi- 
tion which cannot exist to the necessary perfection under a du- 
al management. 

8. It is recognized as an almost insurmountable difficulty 
in the equipment of these dual schools, to find executive heads 
for them who are broad enough to take equal interest and contribute 
equal assistance to both sides of the school. We certainly have 
nothing to complain of in that respect; but Mr. Rucker's broad 
and generous mind sees possibilities of doing better for the deaf 
if he were relieved of the care of the other school, while he equal- 
ly well sees that the wise and proper care of the school for the 
blind, would be likely to give it great advantages from the 
change. 

It is needless to invite your attention particularly to many 
other things that might be urged as reasons for separating the 
schools. If we could increase the range and compass of the ed- 
ucation of the blind, they would be more likely to succeed in 
life, and that is a very great consideration. If we could get 



528 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



more nearly all the pupils into the school who are entitled to 
come, that is another most important matter. They are suffi- 
ciently handicapped as it is, and any aid that can be given them 
in the unequal struggle of life, would seem to be a sort of due 
to them. 

WEST VIRGINIA HOSPITAL FOR INSANE. 

This is one of the largest and best managed institutions of 
the kind in the entire country. I have visited it two or three 
times within the past two years, and each time inspected it with 
great carefulness, and I found it in the best possible condition, 
splendidly equipped and eccellently conducted. It is difficult 
for a layman to see in what particulars it could be improved, 
except in the enlargement of the buildings and improvements in 
their appliances. I have given special attention to this insti- 
tution, because of a particular charge preferred by a few of the 
citizens of Weston against its superintendent. The charge, 
however, was most vigorously and searchingly investigated by 
a competent and fearless Board of Directors, and was proven to 
be unjust and ill founded. The truth was elicited by this rigid 
investigation, that Dr. W. E. Stathers, the superintendent, is a 
man of great executive ability, and at no time in the history of 
the Asylum, have the patients been better cared for, and the in- 
terests of the State more safely guarded. 

The Board of Directors have given much of their valuable 
time to the conduct of this great eleemosynary institution, and 
are entitled to the thanks of our people for their energetic work. 
They are all men of affairs, and can ill afford to spend so much 
of their valuable time in protecting the interests of the State. 
Patriotism and public spirit alone inspired them to make the 
sacrifices they have done for the public weal. 

The report of the Board of Directors, which will be placed in 
the hands of each of you, is complete in details, and shows thp 
needs of the institution. Many valuable improvements have 
been made in the buildings, and others still are badly needed. 
The main building is growing old, and should be generally over- 
hauled, and a special appropriation is asked by the Superintend- 
ent and the Board of Directors for this particular purpose. West 
Virginia is behind no State in properly caring for her unfortu- 
nate insane. 

I call your special attention to the new methods introduced 
in diagnosing and treating diseases of patients in this hospital. 
The adding of a pathological department, the establishing of 
a training school, with a prescribed course of study for the at- 
tendants, and the daily consultation of the medical staff, cover- 
ing all features of insanity, are indeed commendable. The man- 
agement should be congratulated over the, by no means, incon- 
siderable number of patients that are annually discharged as 



Message. 



529 



cared, and also for the strict economy shown in handling the 
money of the people. The reports of both the Superintendent 
and the Board of Directors cover every detail, and I am sure 
will be read by each of you with both interest and profit. 

SECOND HOSPITAL FOR INSANE. 

During the past bi-ennial period, there have been admitted 450 
patients, to this institution and the whole number treated dur- 
ing the fiscal year 1899 was 554, and for the year 1900, 616. 
There were discharged during the two years, as recovered, Hit. 
The average per cent, of recoveries, on total number of admis 
sions during the two years was 39.5 per cent, and the average 
mortality rate for the same period, on total number treated was 
8 per cent. Remaining in Hospital September 30, 1900, 425. 

I call your attention to the following which is quoted from 
the Superintendent's report: "The male department of this 
Hosj3ital is nearly filled to its normal capacity, and the time is 
near at hand when the male insane of our State will be con- 
fined in county jails awaiting their turn for vacancies to occur 
at the Hospital, a condition of affairs neither humane nor eco- 
nomical, for ordinarily if the insane patient fails to receive prop- 
er care and treatment during the early or acute stages of the 
disease the chances of recovery are very slight, and by the pa- 
tient lapsing into a chronic and incurable state of insanity his 
usefulness to society is lost, and he becomes a lasting and per- 
manent expense to the commonwealth." This subject should 
receive your prompt and careful consideration, in order that 
proper provision may be made, at Spencer or elsewhere for this 
class of patients. The Idiot, Epileptic and Insane represent 
three great classes, of the State's population, which must neces- 
sarily by reason of the nature of their afflictions, be subjects for 
State care, and in this connection I would recommend that the 
Institution at Huntington, known as the "Asylum for Incura- 
bles," should be constructed with a view of relieving the over- 
crowded conditions of our two Hospitals for the Insane, and 
statutory changes made which will definitely specify the class 
of patients that are to be admitted and cared for, at this last 
named Institution. 

I have every reason to believe that the various sums set forth 
by the Board of Directors of the Second Hospital for the In- 
sane, in their report, are essential for the successful mainte- 
nance of this institution, and for a detailed statement of these 
needed appropriations, you are referred to the above report. 
Particularly do I call your attention to this Hospital's scarcity 
of water. During the past summer it became repeatedly neces- 
sary to close the Steam Laundry and Ice Plant, owing to the 



530 Public Addresses, &c. 3 of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



scarcity of water, and there was not sufficient water to flush wa- 
ter closets more than once a day, and the patients could not be 
bathed, except in cases of the greatest necessity, and it is my 
opinion that unless remedied, this great evil will grow, in pro- 
portion to the increase in the Hospital population. An appro- 
priation for additional wells and a reservoir should be made. 

All departments of this Hospital have been maintained to a 
high point of excellency and the entire institution is in a most 
flourishing condition. Speaking of the finances of the Hospital, 
I quote the following from the report of the Board of Directors: 
"It is a source of pride to the Board of Directors to be able to 
state that for the first time since the Hospital has been organ- 
ized that there is no deficit in the current expense fund (and in 
fact in no other fund), but there was on October 1st, 1900, a 
surplus of |10,585.60. It is but due to a most faithful and effi- 
cient officer, Dr. L. V. Guthrie, the Superintendent, to state in 
this connection, that the above most excellent showing of the fi- 
nancial condition of the institution is due mainly, if not wholly, 
to his untiring energy, zeal, economy and personal supervision 
and attention to every detail in the management of the Hospital. 
More than once the Board has seen proper to commend Dr. Guth- 
rie's management, and entered the same upon its records, and 
we take pleasure in thus again publicly commending him." 

Recently while visiting at the Second Hospital, I was much im- 
pressed by many noticable improvements, such as brick walks, ice 
plant, new dynamo, and arc lights for the lighting of grounds, 
sodding and grassing of the lawns, planting of trees, telephonic 
connections from the various wards to the Superintendent's of- 
fice, increased facilities for protecting the buildings against fire, 
a plant for the disposal of the Hospital sewage, and an in- 
dustrial department for the manufacturing of mattrasses, 
brooms, mops and Hospital furniture, and in fact a general ap- 
pearance Of thrift and good management. 

The Superintendent, Dr. L. V. Guthrie, has amply proven that 
he is fully qualified as physician, financier, and executive officer, 
to successfully conduct the affairs of this or any great eleemosy- 
nary Institution and for a more detailed statement of the con- 
dition of the above Institution, you are referred to the Fourth 
Bi ennial Report. 

HOME FOR INCURABLES. 

I have watched with unabating interest, the steady growth 
of this new home for the hopeless, helpless, and hapless citizens 
of our prosperous, thrifty State. This is, I am informed, the first 
eleemosynary institution of this kind that has yet been undertak- 
en by any of the States of this great Republic. It was thought 



Message. 



531 



out by Mrs. Mary Jackson Ruffner, of Charleston, who is now, 
and has been from the beginning, the President of the Board 
of Directors of the Home. She is a woman of ability, energy, 
industry and heart. Only one who is imbued with a truly gen- 
uine Samaritan spirit, would sacrifice what she has done in 
bringing into existence this, to be, great institution, as an abid- 
ing place for those that are known to be beyond medical relief, 
and who are financially unable to care for themselves. This 
great-hearted, public-spirited lady of our State, is, therefore, the 
Mother of this Incurables' Home. For the past two years, she 
has devoted practically all of her time to the care of the institu- 
tion, and with the aid of an able and conscientious Board of Di- 
rectors, two large buildings have been constructed, one of which 
has been filled to its utmost capacity for more than two years 
past. The second building, which is much more commodious 
than the first, is now practically ready for occupancy. The work, 
therefore, of general construction is moving steadily forward, 
and the Board of Directors have stated in detail the amount of 
money absolutely necessary to keep the work going on, as well 
as for the support of the inmates of the institution. I trust that 
the most liberal spirit on your part towards this institution will 
be manifested, so that it may not be hampered in the charitable 
work that it has started out to do. 

I have visited the Home several times, and while it is painful 
to look upon its patient inmates, yet it is most gratifying for 
one to know that the State of West Virginia has provided a com- 
modious place for their comfort. 

The two buildings, of the series, which have been erected, are 
of modern architecture, and when the entire plan of the architect 
has been carried out, the Home will be a credit to any State of 
the Union. Close attention has been given to the construction 
of these buildings by the Executive Committee of the Board of 
Directors, and I am satisfied that every interest of the State has 
been most carefully guarded. I ask a thoughtful perusal of the 
report of both the Superintendent and the Board of Directors 
which contain even the minutest details of the management of 
the institution. 

BOYS' REFORM SCHOOL. 

I visited this school twice during the year 1900, the first time 
to inspect it, and the second to assist in laying the corner stone 
of the new administration building. Both visits revealed very 
satisfactory conditions. The boys are well clothed and fed, and 
are at all times kept under proper surveillance. They are kept 
in school half of each week day, and the remainder is spent at 
mechanical work or upon the farm. The moral tone of the insti- 
tution is excellent and the esprit de corps unsurpassed. They 



532 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. TV. Atkinson. 



are organized on a military basis, are all uniformed, and are 
surprisingly well drilled. They have a brass band made up from 
the student body, and they perform quite satisfactorily. On 
the whole, the management of both the Superintendent, Major 
Joseph C. Gluck, and the Board of Directors, is all that could 
be asked. I am confident that many of the reckless boys now 
confined in this institution, will develop into representative cit- 
izens of the State. 

During the month of August, of last year, the water supply at 
this school became practically exhausted. The Board of Di- 
rectors appealed to me for advice as to what course to pursue 
to supply this want. I was at the institution at the time, and 
went over the situation carefully with the Board. We were 
"confronted with a condition and not a theory," and I promptly 
advised the borrowing of a sufficient sum of money to lay a pipe 
from the Tygarts Valley river to the institution, purchase a 
boiler and a pump, and in this way procure a proper water sup- 
ply. This course was taken, and all of the details are fully set 
out in the report of the Board of Directors. It was. indeed, the 
only thing that could be done to meet the emergency, and we 
accordingly assumed the responsibility of the debt, feeling con 
fident that your honorable body would appropriate the money 
out of the treasury to discharge the obligation. 

INDUSTRIAL HOME FOR GIRLS. 

The condition of this institution is most gratifying. It is do- 
ing a noble work. It is most admirably managed. Its prospect 
is most encouraging. It is worth a trip across the State to visit 
it. To rescue one girl is to rescue many, because one badly dis- 
posed girl takes others with her, and so one properly rescued 
means the saving of others. The percentage of long-established 
institutions similar to this one, show ninety per cent, of saved 
girls. To properly maintain this Home, therefore, unquestion- 
ably is the duty of the State. I bespeak for it your earnest sym- 
pathy and co-operation. It badly needs expanding, so as to make 
room for many who cannot now be accepted. Many young, in- 
corrigible girls, are now waiting for the erection of a new build- 
ing so they can be received and cared for and prepared for use- 
ful lives. A sufficient appropriation should be set apart for a 
large addition to the present building, and for the increasing 
needs of the institution generally. The Board of Directors have 
been greatly hampered because of the skimp appropriation made 
by the last Legislature. It was necessary to borrow a consider- 
able sum of money in order to prevent the closing of the doors 
of the Home. This act of the Board I heartily approved, and I 
am confident that you will make it good. The Superintendent. 
Miss Elizabeth Clohan, is a superior officer, and is in every way 



Message. 



533 



equipped for the honorable position she has so ably filled. The 
Board of Directors, which, has shown an unusual interest in its 
safe and proper management from the beginning, has set out in 
its bi-ennial report to me, the needs of the institution, and to 
this report I beg to refer you for all details. 

THE UNIVERSITY. 

The bi ennial report of the Board of Regents of the State Uni- 
versity shows that this institution has been making good pro- 
gress during the past two years. The attendance of resident stu- 
dents has increased during these two years from 644 to 885. The 
standard required for admission and for degrees is higher than 
ever before, and it is confidently believed that the quality of the 
work done has improved with the increase in numbers and in 
requirements for degrees. The University has during these two 
years been in possession of more equipment and greater facil- 
ities in the way of libraries, laboratories and other advantages 
than ever before. This is as it should be, and it is to be hoped 
that the improvement will continue. 

The bi-ennial report shows that the number of women students 
at the University has increased during these tw T o years from 112 
to 240. This is an increase of women students of more than one 
hundred per cent, in two years, which indicates that the young 
women of West Virginia are resorting in rapidly increasing 
numbers to the State University. 

The gift to the University of the splendid pipe organ (costing 
$5,400) by two generous friends is, it is to be hoped, only the be- 
ginning of a long series of individual gifts to our State Universi- 
ty. Thus far West Virginia University has not received many 
gifts from private individuals, but the University has many 
needs which the State is not able to supply, and it is to be hoped 
that as the University increases in power and influence and im- 
proves its work, it will become the pleasure and the pride of 
our prosperous private citizens to contribute largely by personal 
gifts to its important work. 

The burning of the Mechanical Hall, shortly after the adjourn- 
ment of the last Legislature, makes necessary a large appropri- 
ation for the erection and equipment of a new Mechanical Hall. 
The department of Mechanical Engineering is especially impor- 
tant to our State, and its needs should receive careful consider- 
ation. The various recommendations included in the report de- 
serve, and will, I am sure, receive the careful consideration of 
the members of the Legislature. 

The finances of the University are in excellent condition. The 
Treasurer's report sets forth in great detail the various items 
f Shires during the past two years. 

Thp pT^mpriat^orp asked for running expenses for the ensu- 



534 Public Addresses, &c., of Got. G. W. Atkinson. 



ing two years amount to $75,900 per year, and for permanent 
improvements $97,746.20 for the year 1900-1, and $97,167.00 for 
the year 1901-2. These estimates of the needs of the institution 
have been considered with the utmost care by the Board of Re- 
gents, which is composed of conservative men, who appreciate 
the financial condition of the State, as well as the needs of the 
University. Their estimates may be relied upon. I trust it will 
be the pleasure of the Legislature to make liberal appropria- 
tions to this important institution. 

WEST VIRGINIA COLORED INSTITUTE. 

This educational institution is improving every year. Its 
scope of work is steadily widening. Its influence is extending, 
and its good effects can be readily seen on every hand. Its pres- 
ident is an up to date man, competent, industrious, faithful and 
reliable. He has introduced many new methods of instruction, 
which are already showing good results. The corps of teachers 
are well equipped for their respective positions, and the Board 
of Regents are specially interested in the institution, and devote 
their best energies to accomplish proper results. The buildings 
constructed within the past two years, have added much, not 
only to the real value of the property, but have furnished ad- 
ditional room for the accommodation of the student body, and 
have given them fresh encouragement in their particular lines 
of work. The esprit cle corps of the institution is most gratify- 
ing, and I confidently expect, within a very few years, to see 
this one of the leading colored educational institutions in the 
entire South. In my opinion it has a great future. 

It, however, needs additional appliances in order that it may 
accomplish still better results, and as our Legislatures have 
hitherto dealt liberally with it, I confidently expect even greater 
liberality in the future. Our young colored people seem anxious 
to secure higher grade educations, and as this is the only school 
within the State that can meet this want, we should therefore 
be more than ordinarily generous in its support and protection. 

STATE NORMAL SCHOOLS. 

The report of the Regents of these six schools of the State, re- 
veals very satisfactory conditions in all of them. The total at- 
tendance for the year was 1,443, showing an increase over the 
preceding year of 186. Each of these schools has commodious 
buildings, and are properly equipped to do good work. I am 
also persuaded that there is a marked improvement in the teach- 
ing force employed at each and all of them. As at the State 
University, I am happy in being able to state that politics have 



Message. 



535 



been wholly and totally kept out of these State institutions. I 
have found from years of observation, that no State school can 
prosper so long as it is even indirectly controlled by political 
bias or prejudice. From the day I entered upon the duties of 
the office of the State's Chief Executive, I have, on every possi- 
ble occasion, discouraged any and all movements to allow poli- 
tics, of any sort, to enter any of our schools, from the primary 
departments of our public schools up to, and including, the 
State University. I have found it, in many instances, a rough 
road to travel, but it is right — forever right, and will abundant- 
ly pay in the end. The fruits of this determination are already 
being garnered. 

Normal schools are, or should be, unique in their work. Their 
object? are not only to educate those who attend them, but to 
teach them how to teach others. In short, to train them for a 
life work, so that they may be able to properly train others. I 
regret to have to say that I do not believe a single one of our 
Normal Schools is doing real normal work. What they are do- 
ing mainly is academic work, which is only auxiliary to the 
work that they were designed to do. I therefore again call your 
attention to my recommendation to your Honorable Body two 
years ago, that the school at Huntington should be made a Nor- 
mal School per se, with a curriculum embracing normal work 
only. The other five schools can then be continued as acade- 
mies, which, in the main, they now are, and will be constant 
feeders for the one at Huntington, where pedagogy alone should 
be taught. Until this is done, we can never claim that West 
Virginia is engaged in the real work of properly educating and 
equipping young men and young women for one of the highest 
and noblest of callings in life. 

MINING INDUSTRIES. 

In his several annual reports, the Chief Mine Inspector has 
elaborately discussed all features pertaining to the greatest in- 
dustry of our State — that of coal mining. West Virginia now 
occupies a place among the great coal producing States of which 
every West Virginian should be proud. Pennsylvania is the 
greatest coal producing State in the Western Hemisphere, Illi- 
nois second, and our own State third, with only two million tons 
behind Illinois. Until 1S96 the State of Ohio outranked our 
State, but for the present year we have distanced the State of 
Ohio by five million tons, and at the rate at which coal mining 
is increasing in our "Mountain State," it will be but a few vears 
until our tonnage will be second only to Pennsylvania. 29,000 
men are employed at the mines in this State and hundreds of 
millions of dollars are invested in coal plants. The daily ton- 
nage of coal, handled by the railroads in this State, mined 



536 Public Addresses. &c.. of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



within this State will make a freight train twenty miles long 
which requires 100 locomotives to haul to market, provided no 
heavy grades are encountered. 

The growth of this great industry has attracted the attention 
of the world. West Virginia coal is known far and wide. More 
than a million tons of our coal reached the Chicago market dur- 
ing the past year. It is used in Mexico. South America, Italy, 

Philippines and Africa. 

As an illustration of the rapid rise of the State the following 
tabulation is cited: 



BITUMINOUS COAL PRODUCING STATES. 



Rank 1870. Tons. 

1. Pennsylvania 7.798,517 

2. Illinois 2,629,563 

3. Ohio 2,527,285 

4. Maryland 1.819,824 

5. Missouri 621.930 

6. West Virginia 608.878 



Rank 1880. Tons. 

1. Pennsylvania 18.425,163 

2. Illinois 6,115.377 

3 Ohio 6,008,595 

4. Maryland 2,228,917 

5. West Virginia 1,568,000 



Rank 1890. Tons. 

1. Pennsylvania 36.174,089 

2. Illinois 12,104,272 

3. Ohio 9,976,787 

4. West Virginia 7,394.654 



Rank 1900. Tons. 

1. Pennsylvania 75,000,000 

2. Illinois 24,000,000 

3. West Virginia 22,000.000 

4. Ohio 17,000,000 



West Virginia came from 6th place in 1S70 to 5th in 1SS0 and 
4th place in 1890 and since 1S96 has safely held third rank. 

As further illustration of the rapid growth of the coal mining 
industry in the State, attention is called to the total production 
of the State since 1870. 

In 1870 the entire State produced 608,878 tons whereas one 
single mine in Marion County produced the past year 776.281 
tons. In 1880 the State's product was 1.568.000 tons whereas at 
present we have six counties each producing over one million 
tons and two out of the six producing over four million tons. 

In 189o the State produced 7.394.654 tons, whereas at present 
the Counties of Fayette and Kanawha produce 6.003.892 tons, 
Mercer and McDowell produce 5.189.039 tons and Marion pro- 
duces 3,000.000. Tucker 1,098,874, Harrison 647,430. Mineral 
562.667 and Preston 403. GIG tons respectively. 

The increase alone in production since 1896 is greater than 
the entire production of the State in 1890. That you may learn of 
the benefit our State has had. there is herewith given a compara- 
tive statement from 1897 to 1900. 



Message. 



537 



1897 1898 1899 1900 

No. days worked at the mines 197 214 240 261 

No. of men employed ...21,422 23,262 25,108 28,017 

Price paid miners per ton 33.2cts. 33.94 cts. 36.15 cts. 41.06 cts. 

Miner's yearly wag-es $276.89 $322.15 $376.40 $507.09 

Selling- price of coal per ton. .70.3 cts. 65.95 cts. 63.19 cts. 75.00 cts. 

Selling price of coke per ton $1.25 $1.14 $1.25 $1.75 

Production of coke (tons of 

2,000 pounds) 1,374,497 1,742,256 1,950,179 2,496,107 

INCREASE OF 1900 OVER 1897. 

Days worked 64 or 32.4 per cent gain 

Men empk>3 T ed 6,595 or 36.1 per cent gain 

Price per ton paid miners 7.86 cts or 23.6 per cent gain 

Miner's yearly wages $230.20 or 83.1 per cent gain 

Production of coal (tons of 2,000 pounds) . . . .8,042,812 or 61.3 per cent gain 
Production of coke (tons of 2,000 pounds) . . . .1,121,610 or 81.6 per cent gain 

In the mining of this vast tonnage of coal, it is but the natur- 
al course of mining events that men should be injured and 
killed by accidents. 

The great majority of the mines in this State are free from 
explosive gas. There are some twelve or fifteen which evolve ex- 
plosive gas, and the greater number of these has only within the 
past four years become gaseous, for reason of the long distance 
they have been extended into the mountains and to points be- 
low water drainage. 

The following table gives the number of persons killed and in- 
jured inside of the mine from the year 1897 to 1900, inclusive: 

1897 1898 1899 1900 

No. of deaths 62x 76 79 133 

No. of non-fatalities 167 x 115 165 164 

No. of men employed inside of 

the mine 17,069 18,592 19,634 21,820 

No. of men employed inside to 

one fatality 275 245 248 164 

No. of men employed inside to 

one non-fatality 102 161 119 13 

x inside and outside of the mine. 

The large number of deaths for 1900, being 133, is the result 
of the Red Ash Mine explosion in which 46 persons were killed. 

The causes of these accidents were as stated in the following 
table: 

1897 1898 1899 1900 

per cent, per cent, per cent, per cent. 

Falls of roof 50.21 65.87 64.50 54.56 

Mine cars 21.83 19.91 19.35 15.77 

Powder explosions .... 2.62 2.37 4.65 2.83 

Gas explosions 2.84 1.07 18.29 

Miscellaneous 25.34 9.01 10.43 8.55 

Totals 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 



538 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



From tlie foregoing table it may be seen that the principal 
cause of accidents is due to falls of the roof. On March 6th, 1900. 
a most appalling disaster accurred at the Red Ash Mine io Fay- 
ette County in wfliich 46 lives were lost. 

Thorough investigation was made into the cause of this ac- 
cident and it was found that the disaster was due to the explos- 
ion of gas within the mine, aided somewhat by the presence of 
dust. The investigation further revealed the fact that gas was 
known to exist in the mine and to prevent the possibility of an 
explosion there was employed, in compliance with our mining 
statutes, a "fire boss" whose duty it was to examine the mine 
each morning before the miners and laborers entered the mine. 
Our mining laws specifically direct that the men shall not enter 
gaseous mines until the same shall have been examined by the 
fire boss and reported by him to be safe. The miners at the Red 
Ash Mine on the morning of the explosion did not wait to re- 
ceive the report of the fire boss, but entered the mine twenty 
minutes after the fire boss had entered. The men w T ent into all 
sections of the mine, and in one section a body of gas had ac- 
cumulated and upon the arrival of one of the laborers at that 
point his lamp ignited the gas and an explosion followed, killing 
all inside of the mine, including the fire boss. This mine is ven- 
tilated by means of a regular mining fan and the fan had beeo 
running 20 minutes when the explosion occurred. Had the fan 
been running an hour or two hours previous to the hour the 
men entered the mine, it is most probable this disaster would not 
have happened. At this point, permit me to call attention 
to the fact that, in anticipation of just such a calamity, the 
Chief Mine Inspector, in his annual report for 1898, proposed 
legislation which had for its purpose the prevention of mine ex 
plosions, and in my message to the Legislature of 1899, I recom- 
mended its adoption. This bill passed the House of Delegates 
unanimously but failed of passage in the Senate. 

Again in his annual report for 1899, the Chief Mine Inspector 
said, "This department is apprehensive of the occurrence of 
some shocking calamity at the gaseous mines in the State, as the 
result of the failure of the enacting into law certain important 
sections of the Bill proposed." Shall the lives of our laboring 
people be further jeopardized w'hen a remedy is at hand? 

On November 2nd, 1900, at 11:30 o'clock P. M. there was an 
explosion in the Berrysburg Mine, in Barbour County, belonging 
to the Southern Coal & Transportation Co., which resulted in 
the deaths of fourteen men. The investigation made after this 
explosion was thorough, and a coroner's inquest was had which 
lasted the greater part of a day. Much evidence and expert tes- 
timony were obtained. The mine was a new one, had been 
opened only a few months and was equipped with all modern 
appliances for ventilation, haulage, drainage, etc. 



Message. 



539 



There had never been found any explosive gas in This mine 
and it was never and is not now considered a gaseous mine. 

The explosion was the result of the explosion of powder on 
the main heading of the mine, which explosion in turn caused 
the dust, powder and dynamite smoke in the mine to explode. 
The evidence taken at the inquest and examination revealed a 
condition horrible to contemplate-, that the mine had purposely 
been blown up by one or more of the men, employed in the mine 
on the fatal night, whose dead bodies were found blown to frag- 
ments just outside of the mine. No legislation could avert such 
a ghastly deed. 

Doubtless many bills suggesting mining legislation will be in- 
troduced for passage before this legislature. The Chief Mine In- 
spector has. during the year just closed, requested each of the 
mining operations to make replies to questions pertaining to 
needed legislation. 

Out of three hundred forms mailed, 118 were returned with 
the blanks filled. 

The quesitons asked were, "1st. Do we need additional min- 
ing legislation? 2d. If so, upon what points? 3rd Do you 
recommend that mine bosses be required to undergo examina- 
tion to prove their competency? 1th. Do you recommend that 
fire bosses be required to undergo examination?" 

To the first question, out of 118 replies, 13 state that there is 
need of additional legislation; 52 stated that there is not needed 
additional legislation: 67 recommend the examination of 
mine bosses; 69 recommend the examination of fire bosses, while 
39 and 35 respectively are opposed to their examination. 

The legislation suggested consisted of the following: 

1. Abolition of company stores. 

2. Weighing and measuring coal. 

3. Protection of mines against abandoned oil and gas wells. 
1. Mine surveyors should make affidavit to correctness of 

maps. 

5. Prevention of use of Black Strap and other impure and 
noxious oils for illuminating purposes in mines. 

6. Compelling Railroads to make car distribution upon basis 
of the output of the mines. 

7. Reduction of assessment valuation on coal property which 
has been mined out. 

Mr. W. P. Rend, an owner of large mining properties in the 
States of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and West Virginia, says, 
on the subject of requiring mine bosses and fire bosses to under- 
go examination, "most emphatically no. Practical experience in 
coal mining is of far greater importance than theoretical learn- 
ing or the ability to answer such questions as are propounded 
in text books. Some of the best pit bosses I have had in my em- 
cloy, have been men of limited education, who could not pass a 
theoretical examination. 



540 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



"In the State of Ohio, (where certificates are not required), 1 
have been operating several mines, and have for many years 
Deen able to get more capable and better pit bosses than in 
Pennsylvania, where I was only permitted to employ men who 
had passed the examination. 

"Such a law would debar ninety-nine miners out of a hundred 
from the opportunities of filling a position that should be open 
to all. It seems to me that if the State appoints competent and 
efficient inspectors of mines, who will make examinations fre- 
quently, and require the pit bosses and fire bosses to strictly 
carry out their instructions, and further demand of the opera- 
tors that fans of sufficient capacity be used to secure a good 
flow of air in all of the working places, all will then have been 
done that should be attempted by legislation." 

During the past three years there have been two resignations 
of District Mine Inspectors for reason of the small salary at- 
tached to the office. Such men as are competent to hold the im- 
portant position of District Mine Inspector, are more liberally 
remunerated by private coal companies and the State is de- 
prived of their valued services. In the State of Pennsylvania, 
the Chief Mine Inspector and the District Inspectors receive 
an annual salary of $3,000.00 and all necessary expenses. In 
the State of Ohio, the Chief Inspector receives a salary of 
$2,000.00 and expenses, and the District Inspectors, of whom 
there are seven, $1,200.00 and expenses. 

I recommend that the salaries of the Chief Mine Inspector be 
$1,800.00, and that the District Inspectors each be $1,200.00 per 
annum. 

At present, the first mining district, which includes all of the 
coal producing counties north of the Little Kanawha River, is 
too large for one inspector. The mines have so largely increased 
in number that it is impossible for one inspector to give each 
mine its needed attention, consequently I recommend the estab- 
lishment of another District Mine Inspector. I again recom- 
mend the adoption of the bill proposed by the Chief Mine In- 
spector which may be found in his 1898 annual report. 

THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 

Agriculture has always been the prime industry of every civ- 
ilized people, yet we might say it never received the recognition 
it deserved until within the latter part of the century just 
closed. Since a bureau of agriculture has been created and 
made one of the head departments of our government, similar 
bureaus have been established by the several States, and the 
progress made in the upbuilding of our agriculture, dates from 
the time these bureaus were established. 

The West Virginia State Board of Agriculture was made a 



Message. 



541 



department of our State by an act of the legislature in 1891. I 
am proud to say that it has fulfilled its mission in a manner 
creditable to itself and the cause it has so nobly espoused. As 
a department of the State, it has gradually grown in importance 
and usefulness, and has contributed very largely to the develop- 
ment of the State's natural resources. 

It serves as a bureau of general information to those seeking 
investment in the hidden wealth and timber, as well as those 
seeking after lands for grazing purposes, fruit growing and gen- 
eral farming. Requests for information along these lines meet 
with ready response by this Board, and no doubt is bearing 
much fruit. This, together with the advanced work that is be- 
ing done for improving the condition of our rural people, places 
it among the leading departments of our rapidly growing com- 
monwealth. There is noticable improvement in the breeding of 
improved 1 stock, and greater interest is being manifested in 
commercial fruit growing, to which our soil and climate are so 
well adapted; and there is certainly greater care being taken in 
the cultural methods of general farming. It seems that every 
effort is being made to educate our farmers by means of farmers' 
institutes, and through the circulation of a monthly publication, 
both of which, have proved very successful in advancing the 
work. The farmer not being situated so as to enjoy the advant- 
ages of those engaged in commercial enterprises in keeping in 
touch with the progress of the times, it is proper that they re- 
ceive due consideration. 

Without the aid of this department, the progress of our rural 
people would be very slow, and the industry that feeds and 
clothes the rest of the world and furnishes our most substan- 
tial citizenship, would be permitted to suffer. West Virginia is 
an agricultural as well as a mining and manufacturing State, 
and we cannot reach our complete development if we permit 
our farming interests to go unheeded. 

One of the principal divisions of work which this department 
has undertaken and has been so far successfully carried out, is 
in holding from one to three farmers' institutes in each county 
in the State each year. This plan of work brings the department 
in direct contact with the men who are tilling the soil, and its 
opportunities for usefulness are very great. In addition to the 
members of the Board, the assistance of the ablest and most com- 
penent persons are secured to give instructions on practical and 
up-to-date subjects, in the form of lectures and addresses. In ad- 
dition to the efficient help thus rendered by the Experiment Sta- 
tion and College of Agriculture and the State Veterinarians, the 
best local talent are encouraged to assist in making these insti- 
tutes an educational factor in every community. The topics dis- 
cussed by some of these lecturers are scientific in character, and 
yet practical in their application, and are awakening an interest 



542 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. (x. W. Atkinson. 



in agriculture, its profits and possibilities, which will be of in- 
calculable value to the State. There have been 133 of these in- 
stitutes held during the past two years, and it is estimated that 
20,515 farmers were in attendance. 

These institutes cost th^ State about $2,500 a year, and I firm- 
ly believe the State could well afford to pay twice this sum each 
year in this form of educational work, the benefits of which 
would soon be seen in the improved condition of our farming peo- 
ple. For farmers' institutes alone, the State of Pennsylvania 
makes an annual appropriation of $12,500, and the State of Ohio 
last year spent over $15,000. If this division of the work of 
the department is encouraged and properly pursued, we may 
predict excellent results for the future. 

Another plan of educational work inaugurated by the Board, 
and which has met with the general approval of the farmers, 
is the monthly publication known as the "Farm Review. " It 
is a medium through which the farmers are brought in touch 
with the Board, and are kept posted on all the progressive meas- 
ures the Board is undertaking. This is so far considered one of 
the best mediums yet devised, to keep the mass of farmers in- 
formed from month to month as to the most recent investiga- 
tions and research the Board is making in their behalf. The 
monthly reports of our crops and stock production, together 
with other interesting information, is printed and distributed 
through this medium. 

There is a growing interest in thoroughbred live stock and 
you are requested to give this important industry due considera- 
tion. Acting under the provisions of Bill Xo. 72, Chapter 53, 
for the prevention and spread of contagious diseases among 
domestic animals, very effective work has been done. The prev- 
alence of tuberculosis, rabies and blackleg among cattle, prevail- 
ed to an extent bordering on alarm, but by the aggressive steps 
taken, these together with contagious diseases affecting other 
live stock, have been very much reduced, and are being held in 
check so far as circumstances will permit. Our live stock inter- 
ests should be protected, and in order that the department may 
be able to more successfully accomplish the task, I wish to rec- 
ommend that proper measures be taken to prevent the importa- 
tion of breeding animals into the State having infectious or con- 
tagious diseases. For the purpose of obtaining more reliable 
and accurate statistics of what our State produces in crops and 
stock, such recommendations as may be made for correcting the 
present inefficient system, will meet with my hearty approval. 

Believing that the age demands it, and that the system is 
meeting with the highest approval where it has been tested, I 
fully concur in the recommendation asking that the law provide 
for the teaching of elementary agriculture in our public schools 
I believe it would not only result in a more liberal and practi- 



Message. 



543 



cal education in our rural districts, but would broaden the minds 
of all classes and elevate tHe profession generally. 

The question of pure food products is one that should inter- 
est both the consumers and the honest producers. A large per 
cent, of the manufactured articles used as food for the unman 
family, as well as mixed food for stock, are often adulterated. 
There is every reason to believe that the public is greatly im- 
posed upon, the fraud being comparatively easy to perpetrate, 
as we have no law compelling an investigation. The imposition 
is likely to be all the greater, for the reason that our State 
stands alone, without some such protection. 

The different agencies that are at work in the State, for the 
development of our agricultural resources, I believe, are all co- 
operating in the most friendly spirit with this department, which 
speaks well for all concerned, and is a source of encouragement 
and gratification. 

This department has kindly assisted me in my endeavor to ad- 
vance the development of the State's resources, and I wish to com- 
mend the efforts they have put forth, and hope that the recom- 
mendations which they have made, will be carefully considered, 
and the appropriations, cheerfully granted. They are not exor- 
bitant, and I am confident it will moot the approval of the farm 
ers, and will be economically used in a way that will benefit th* 
State. 

STATE BANK LAW. 

Your attention is also called to our banking system and bank- 
ing laws. During the last few years, there has been a great 
iucrease in the number of "State banks." Many of these are 
splendid institutions and it is to be hoped that all of them are 
good; but a matter of such vital importance to our people can- 
not be too closely guarded. There is a general feeling that our 
present law is inadequate to our needs, and that a more careful 
and effective systom of State supervision should be devised. 

The report of the State Bank Examiner is a most satisfactory 
and encouraging document. The increase of deposits during 
the past twelve months is something wonderful, and is itself 
an argument why the strictest system of surveillance over State 
banking institutions should be devised and effectively enforced. 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR. 

In presenting to your Honorable Body the Sixth Bi-ennial Re- 
port of the Commissioner of Labor, I feel assured that you will 
find therein much valuable information that will assist you to 
determine questions as to the rights and wants of labor, that 
must sooner or later be settled by legislation. From the report 



544 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



of the Department of Labor I find the conditions under which 
labor is employed have not materially improved in the past two 
years. Labor should have some consideration from your Hon- 
orable Body at this time, and I trust such laws as are necessa- 
ry to protect them and their interests will be enacted, and meas- 
ures made for their enforcement. I will take up separately the 
subjects investigated by the Commissioner of Labor, and make 
recommendations for remedial legislation. 

FACTORY REGULATIONS. 

The information gathered through the Department of Inspec- 
tion show T s the importance of the State taking some action for 
the prevention of accidents and preservation of life and health 
in factories and other places of employment within the State. 
I recommend legislation requiring safety appliances to be at- 
tached to all dangerous machinery, shaftings, beltings, elevators, 
etc., and making provisions for hygienic regulations in factories 
and workshops and other places where labor is employed. 

FEMALE LABOR. 

I further recommend legislation requiring employers of female 
labor in mercantile, mechanical and other establishments where 
females are employed, to provide suitable seats to be used by 
them when they are not necessarily employed, and where it be- 
comes necessary to change clothing, that dressing departments 
and toilet rooms be provided for the exclusive use of females; 
and all stairways used by females should be screened, and such 
other protection given them as will be necessary for their com- 
fort and due to their sex. 

CHILD LABOR. 

The question of child labor occupies the public mind more 
perhaps than any other subject in the industrial world, and 
should have the earnest consideration of all who are interested 
in the future welfare of the American working man and woman. 
Being considered from an educational standpoint, it will not 
be denied that any physical or intellectual development on the 
part of the child will result in making him or her more capable 
and useful citizens, and the betterment of society. This age 
of mechanical improvement and progress demands intelligent, 
well-informed labor for the direction of modern devices, and 
requires a higher grade of intelligence on the part of the op- 
erator than the average boy or girl possesses. Through this in- 
vestigation the fact is developed that child labor has increased 
nine and one-half per cent, in this State in the past two years; 
notwithstanding, we have on the statute a law requiring children 
of proper age to a continuous attendance at school until they 
are fourteen years of age. Section 10, Chapter 45, of the Code 
of 1899, thus defines the provision and reads as follows: 



Message. 



545 



''Every person having under his control a child or children be- 
tween the ages of eight and fourteen years shall cause such 
child or children to attend some public school in the city, inde- 
pendent district, or district, in which he resides, and such at- 
tendance shall continue for at least sixteen weeks of the school 
year, provided the school be in session as many as sixteen weeks, 
and for every neglect of such duty the person offending shall 
be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall upon conviction thereof 
before any justice, be fined $2 for the first offense, and $5 for any 
subsequent offense. An offense, as understood in this act, shall 
consist in failure to send to school any child or children for five 
consecutive days, except in case of sickness of such child or 
children, or other reasonable excuse. It shall be the duty of 
every trustee and teacher to inform against any one so offend- 
ing, and upon a failure so to do, they shall be guilty of a mis- 
demeanor, and be fined not exceeding |5, provided that if such 
child or children have attended for a like period of time a pri- 
vate day school, or if such child or children have been otherwise 
instructed for a like period of time in the branches of learning 
required by law to be taught in the public schools, or have al- 
ready acquired such branches, or if his physical or mental con- 
dition is such as to render such attendance inexpedient, or im- 
practicable, such penalty shall not be incurred. Provided, fur- 
ther, that in case there be no public school in session within two 
miles by the nearest traveled road of any person in the school 
district, he shall not be liable to the provisions of this act." 

To my mind the law is plain upon this question. But the store 
room, factory and workshop will show the law as being violated 
all over the State every school day of the year. By this it is 
shown the Acts of 1887 relative to the employment of child labor 
is inadequate for the purpose for which it is intended. There 
fore, it becomes necessary that a more stringent law should be 
enacted to prevent the employment of children of so tender an 
age. 

To protect the children of our State against ignorance and 
to prepare them for the higher educational requirements in ev- 
ery department of life, I recommend the law be changed so as 
to make it unlawful to employ children under fourteen years of 
age in the mercantile, mining and manufacturing institutions in 
West Virginia. 

PROTECTION OF MOTORMEN. 

Laws providing for the protection of motor men from 
the inclemencies of the weather in certain seasons 
of the year are a necessity in West Virginia. Other 
States have taken the initiative in the direction of 
legislation in the interests of employes of street railways, which 
example might well be followed in this State. Men' who are 



546 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



compelled to expose themselves to the dangers incident to their 
employment should have proper protection from climatic influ- 
ences during the winter months. 

The use of vestibule cars by street railway companies during 
the colder months of the year, would go far toward the preser- 
vation of health and the prevention of serious illness. The at- 
tention of the State should be brought to this very important sub- 
ject. Therefore, I recommend that the street railway companies 
and corporations operating in West Virginia be required to pro- 
vide suitable protection for their motormen from the inclemen- 
cies of the weather. 

ARBITRATION. 

The settlement of labor disputes by arbitration has received 
more attention and consideration in the past year than ever 
before, and the idea of State intervention through proper officials 
is favored by employers and the employed. The great indus- 
tries of this commonwealth are frequently suspended by strikes 
and lockouts, resulting at times, in criminal violation of the law 
and entailing upon the State vast expense to protect life and 
property and preserve the public peace. 

Conflicts between capital and labor in this State have not re- 
sulted seriously; but still, the future cannot be foreseen. Meas- 
ures providing for arbitration and conciliation in all labor dis- 
putes should be adopted. Therefore, I recommend the estab- 
lishment of a State Board of Arbitration and Conciliation for the 
adjustment of controversies between capital and labor in West 
Virginia. 

IMPORTATION OF LABOR. 

Importation of labor in times of industrial disturbances has 
proven to be a menace to the public welfare, and has resulted 
seriously in some instances in other States ; and would under 
similar circumstances, precipitate strife in West Virginia. With- 
in the past year an instance of this occurred within our State 
as detailed in Part IV of the Report of the Commissioner of 
Labor. 

The imported men are usually of the lowest grade intellectu- 
ally and moralty. The evil which grows out of such importa- 
tions under the aggravating conditions which a strike oft-times 
produces may well claim the attention of our law makers. Im- 
portations of this character are not justified under any ordinary 
circumstances; and the evil results which grow out of such an 
act largely overbalances any good which could be realized. Pro- 
hibitive legislation seems imperative. Therefore, I recommend 
legislation prohibiting the importation of working men from 
other States to take men's places in times of labor disturbances 
within this State, provided the same can be done without in- 



Message. 



547 



fringement upon the Constitution as to inter-state commerce 
regulations. 

LICENSING OF STATIONARY ENGINEERS. 

The alarming increase of boiler explosions and the consequent 
results and loss of life, calls for legislation for the prevention of 
accidents from criminal carelessness in the handling of steam 
boilers. There should be a strong protest against the employ- 
ment of incompetent men as stationary engineers. This is one 
of the features that enters the problem of boiler explosions. If 
the State would designate and require a reasonable but safe 
standard of qualifications to be possessed by all in charge of 
the same, it would have the effect of removing the cause. The 
Acts of 1897, relative to the licensing of stationary engineers, 
has proven to be inadequate for the purposes for which it was 
intended. I recommend that Chapter 89, of the Acts of 1897, 
be abolished, and, in lieu thereof would recommend the creating 
of a State Board of Examiners for stationary engineers and oth- 
ers having charge of steam generating apparatuses within the 
State. 

APPOINTMENT OF FACTORY INSPECTOR. 

To carry out these regulations and to make more efficient pro- 
vision for the inspection of factories, workshops and other places 
where labor is employed, I recommend the appointment of a 
Factory Inspector, who shall report annually to the Commis- 
sioner of Labor. Said Inspector to have power to enforce the 
law pertaining to this department, and prosecute all violations 
before the proper authority. 

EIGHT HOUR LAW. 

The action of the last Legislature in making eight hours 
a legal day's work on all public works of the State, has resulted 
most successfully. This was a start in the right direction. I 
am now clearly of opinion that another step should be taken by 
declaring eight hours a standard day's work within the State. 
While it will not be possible to enforce a law of this character 
upon the individual employers of labor, yet they would generally 
adopt it, especially if it provides that if it is desirable on the 
part of employers to have their men work a greater number of 
hours and they consent so to do, and are paid for the over-time, 
no one could or would object to the enactment of such a law. 
I call your attention to this matter, with the earnest hope that 
such a law may be speedily enacted. Eight hours are long 
enough for any person to toil at manual labor, and as ten hours 
are now generally required as a day's work, if it were reduced 
to eight, one-fifth more employees could secure positions. 



548 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. GL W. Atkinson. 



NATIONAL GUARD. 

In ruy last message to your Honorable Body, I asked special 
consideration of the needs of the National Guard, and endeavored 
to bring the same prominently before you, and I desire again 
to invite your special attention to this subject. It is one of 
supreme importance. It is the bulwark and backbone upon which 
rests the fabric of government. It is therefore, that I hold the 
military establishment of a free State should be the special ob- 
ject of pride and fostering care on the part of the law making 
body and of the Executive. 

The spirit underlying our national institutions is founded upon 
the theory that the reserve forces of the Nation should be lodged 
within the respective States, and it is to our citizen soldiers that 
the Nation looks for its main reserve defence in time of war, 
and to which the State locks for the maintenance of the law and 
the preservation of order within its own borders in time of peace. 
This attribute of our National Guard system is the first essen- 
tial that gives vigor and force to the limited sovereignty of each 
State in the federal compact. 

My purpose in suggesting these elementary and basic princi- 
ples is to emphasize the importance of this subject and to lay 
out broad ground upon which to construct the observations and 
recommendations that will follow. I think there has been con- 
siderable misapprehension on the part of the public and shared 
by some of our Legislators as to the composition, conduct and 
general conditions surrounding our National Guard system, as 
well as the larger principles and purposes underlying it. There 
seems to have been a disposition to regard it in some quarters 
as rather more ornamental than useful, and a failure to attach 
to it the serious consideration that it deserves and the support it 
should have. I do not know that any just ground ever existed for 
such a view and criticism of our Guard, but be this as it may 
in the past, I am sure there is no such cause for criticism now. 

It has been the definite policy and fixed purpose of those in 
authority in which General Curtin has been conspicuous, to elim- 
inate all extraneous matter and place the Guard on what may 
be termed a business-military basis, making it in fact what it 
should be in theory, viz: a serious, well organized, armed and 
equipped body of citizen soldiery, drilled and trained in the art 
of war, and ready to respond to any call of the Chief Executive. 
These bodies of men have been trained and equipped on lines 
modeled after the regular army, so far as the same could be done 
with our limited resources and the nature of our State system. 
A military establishment predicated upon these theories and so 
conducted, will always give us insurance against trouble at 
home, and preparation for any emergency which may arise 
abroad. 



Message. 



549 



For a particular account of the organization and strength of 
the Guard and of its present condition and its needs, the atten- 
tion of your Honorable Body is invited to the report of the Ad- 
jutant General, in which is embraced the reports of the Brigade 
Commander and other officers. From this it will be observed 
that the military establishment of the State, as now organized, 
comprises in addition to the General Staff of the Commander-in- 
Chief, (including the Adjutant General and his assistants), the 
Staff of the Brigade Commander, two Regiments of Infantry 
and attendant staffs, together with the Medical Department and 
the Signal Corps. The conditions revealed are very satisfactory 
within the limits of this organization and the resources at hand. 
It gives to the State a serviceable body of soldiers equal to an/ 
ordinary emergency that may arise and that its limited number 
could be expected to meet. The two Regiments of Infantry as 
at present organized, on a minimum basis, is insufficient to give 
perfect security to the growing needs of our State as pointed out 
by the Brigade Commander. Provision should be made, enabling 
a material increase in this force. The force as it now exists has 
been brought to its present proportions which represents an ac- 
tual and serviceable strength, available for active duty. It is 
thus that the ''paper strength'' has been reduced to a minimum 
and the Guard placed upon the basis of a compact organization, 
so that the expenditure of the military fund for its conduct, 
maintenance and equipment might be productive of the most 
practical results. 

The appropriation for the Guard is entirely inadequate, not 
only to meet the proper needs of the Guard limited as it is as 
now organized, but to enable the organizations to be increased 
in force and numbers to a degree corresponding to the necessi- 
ties of a wise public policy, as cited above. The fixed expenses 
such as armory rents, store rooms, clerical services, uniform 
allowance, printing, etc., and such other expenses as are inci- 
dental to the service in the administration of the Guard as requir- 
ed by law, amount to at least f 15,000 annually, leaving under 
the present appropriation of $25,000, but $10,000 to cover all 
other expenses, including equipment and the cost of field exer- 
cises during the summer. The aforesaid estimate of $15,000 is 
based upon actual figures as provided by law, and the most rigid 
economy practiced in the expenditure of funds for incidental 
purposes. The balance remaining out of the appropriation 
amounting to $10,000, is obviously and totally insufficient to 
pay the costs of field exercises, not to mention such necessary 
equipment as falls upon the State to supply. A Brigade encamp- 
ment alone costs about $20,000. 

I, therefore, feel constrained to urge that the present appro- 
priation be increased to not less than $40,000, annually. Con- 
siderable more money is really needed and could be expended ju- 



550 Public Addresses. &a, or Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



diciously without the least extravagance, but, as I recognize 
the wisdom and necessity of our Legislature in exercising the 
strictest economy in the appropriation of money out of the 
public treasury, I therefore, recommend that the sum of $40,000, 
annually, as stated above, be appropriated. 

Other progressive States make ample provision for their mili- 
tary forces far distancing West Virginia in this respect. The 
amounts appropriated or provided for to support the Guard in 
other States annually give evidence of this fact. I have ascer- 
tained the figures in a number of States and submit them here- 
with: 

Connecticut , $150,000 00 

Massachusetts $300,000 00 to 320,000 00 

Maryland " 50,000 00 

Iowa 50,200 00 

Illinois 210,000 00 

Wisconsin 110,000 00 

Ohio : 170,282 00 

New Jersey 151,700 00 

Pennsylvania 400.000 00 

During the late war with Spain, this State was called upon 
to furnish two regiments for the National Government, as I 
alluded to in my last message. These were recruited from the 
ranks of the National Guard, and thus avoided the necessity of 
calling upon the civilians of the State for the formation of these 
regiments. Although they did not get to the front, the record 
made by both officers and men in these regiments, was highly 
creditable to the State. Many of these men have since become 
members of the Regular Army and are now doing duty in the 
cause of our Country, and a number of our officers are filling 
important posts. Nearly all of those who returned to the State 
after the Spanish-American war, have re-entered the Guard and 
the experience gained by them in the U. S. service, has largely 
contributed to the present satisfactory standard of efficiency 
and discipline which it has now attained. During the past two 
years the officers of the Guard have labored with conscientious 
zeal to bring the military organization up to a high state of effi- 
ciency, and I am gratified to note that those officers and organ- 
izations which have not come up to the standard have been 
dropped from the rolls. 

I will conclude my remarks on this important branch of our 
State Government by quoting the last paragraph in my late 
message to the Legislature: "Our State Guard is of inestimable 
value to the prosperity, growth and good name of our State, 
and we should leave nothing undone to make this great arm of 
the law more effective in the future than it has been in the past. 
Our young men are willing to render any service in their power, 



Message. 



551 



at the command of the Chief Executive, to place West Virginia 
in the front rank of the most law-abiding states in the Union. 
We should, therefore, deal with them liberally and properly, 
because in emergencies we must implicitly rely upon them as 
the main factors in enforcing the law when unforseen troubles 
may arise. In my humble judgment, you cannot be too liberal 
with this arm of the public service." 

PUBLIC ROADS. 

Many of tLe States of the Union are seriously considering the 
matter of public roads. Roads are the public highways for all 
classes of citizens. They are the arteries which lead to the cen- 
ters of trade and commerce as much so as the arteries of the 
human body concenter in the heart of every human being. They 
are therefore of use to every citizen, high or low, rich or poor. 
Better rural schools, increased value of farm products, increased 
value of property, rural postal mail delivery, cheaper transpor- 
tation.— all enter as important factors into this question. In 
short, the welfare of all of our people demands that good roads 
should be made and maintained throughout the State. The 
question that must confront you is, how best you can legislate to 
secure well constructed, graded roads throughout all of the 
counties of the Commonwealth? Our State is now in the thirty- 
eighth year of its existence, and, it seems to me, that we are 
away behind many of our sister States in the matter of public 
roads. It is true that we have expended a vast sum of money 
to secure satisfactory highways, and in most of our counties, 
we have apparently made no appreciable headway. Somehow, 
no system thus far tried has proven satisfactory, except in a 
limited number of counties. In my judgment, our apparent ut- 
ter failures so far, lies in one fact, and that is, lack of concen- 
tration and completion of any one particular road. We spread 
out too much. We need a law that will require the authorities 
of each county to spend so much money of the people upon one 
particular road, and stick to that road until it is properly wid- 
ened, graded, ditched and drained, so as to make it a complete 
job, — then, take up another section, and in the same way carry 
it on to completion. If this plan is required by a general law, 
it will not be many years until we shall have satisfactory public 
roads in every county in the State. . But if we continue as we are 
now doing, and have been doing since West Virginia became a 
State, expending the people's money in each county by simply 
filling up the mudholes and cleaning out the rocks which neces- 
sarily accumulate in our roadways, without any attempt at grad- 
ing, ditching and draining, our money thus expended will avail 
us practically nothing, and we will never have a creditable sys- 
tem of public road-ways. 

Several of our counties, notably, Ohio, Cabell, Berkeley, Hamp- 



552 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



shire, Hardy, Grant, Greenbrier, Monroe, Kanawha and a few 
others, have adopted the correct idea of making a road a good 
one, as far as it goes each year, and the next year hooking on 
where it left off the preceding year and carrying the good work 
forward to a final completion. This is the true and only way to 
ever secure good roads. Why, then, do not all of the counties 
adopt the same system? This is the question for the Legislature 
to solve, and this is the reason that I call your attention to this, 
the most important question you will be called upon to puss. 
I beg of you to enact a general law, if at all possible so to do, 
which will require the construction of roads by sections, and 
thus prevent the indiscriminate dumping of the taxes of the peo 
pie into "chuck-holes" every year, as is now the prevailing cus- 
tom in the most of the counties of the State. 

I call special attention to this subject because the need of 
improvement is apparent and admitted, and because the benefits 
following it would be extensive. Many sections of the State, 
unsurpassed in beauty and fertility, are neglected and almost 
unknown, because the condition of the highways affording the 
only approach makes them difficult of access. A good road is 
one of the chief elements of the value of a farm. If its fer- 
tility be slight, it may still be desirable if its location and sur- 
roundings are attractive and the approaches suitable. In many 
sections, farm values which have been reduced by competition 
in the farming sections of the west, would, by good roads be 
brought into market. Every section is benefitted to the extent 
of its power to attract settlers from the overcrowded towns and 
cities. Good roads, every one knows, enlarge markets, raise the 
price of commodities of every sort, and all of the changes which 
the expenditure of money is likely to create, are thereby largely 
realized. West Virginia possesses natural advantages unsur- 
passed by any State. Better roads will bring them more gener- 
ally to the attention of the people outside of the State. The 
subject, therefore, is of supreme importance to you as the law- 
making body for our people. 

STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 

The Legislature of 1897 established a State Geological and 
Economic Survey, and the Board created by the Act, entered 
upon its duties very soon thereafter. Professor I. C. White was 
appointed State Geologist, and with his usual vigor, began work 
in accordance with the provisions of the law. 

The true meridians of the different county seats were found 
and marked. A preliminary State map, showing the coal form- 
ations, and the oil and gas sections, at that time developed, was 
prepared and published; and a volume on oil production which 
was intended to be one of a series, was written by Professor 



Message. 



55a 



White and was duly published, and carefully distributed. 
Other important investigations were begun, and were being rap- 
idly pushed by the Board of Control. In short, the work done 
seemed to be most satisfactory to those of our people who were 
keeping themselves in touch with it. 

For some reason, however, the Legislature, at its session of 
1899, failed to make an appropriation to carry the important 
work forward, and necessarily the Board became inoperative. 

It is only necessary for me to call your attention to this mat- 
ter in order to have it revived. West Virginia is, per se, a min- 
eral State, and no one, except those in public position, can con- 
ceive of the number of inquiries that are presented for authori- 
tative information relative to the coal, oil and gas resources of 
the State. 

The edition of the State map was disposed of within a very few 
months after its publication; and inquiries for information which 
only a geological survey can reveal, poured in upon us, and are 
still coming, notwithstanding the fact. that I have written many 
hundreds of letters informing earnest inquirers that our State 
had, for a time, abandoned its undertaking to prepare an offi- 
cial exhibit of its wonderful resources. 

1 am confirmed in opinion that this Survey should be vigorous- 
ly prosecuted. It will require, at fewest, six years, with a strong 
force, to complete the work. Wlien the work was begun four 
years .ago, it was intended to spread it out over a period of 
twelve years, so that the tax upon the State Treasury would not 
be burdensome; but if the undertaking is to be carried through 
to a finish in six years, the appropriations must be doubled, and, 
according to Professor White, snould be, per annum, as fol- 
lows: 

For co-operation with the U. S. Geological Survey in the 
preparation of a complete topographical map of the 



State |20,000 

For salaries of the State Geologist and three assistants . . 4,900 
For salary of Chief Draughtsman and Topographer and 

two assistant topographers 2,500 

For salary of Chief Chemist 300 

For salary of Assistant Chemist 600 

For salary of Chief Clerk 1,200 

For salary of Assistant Clerk 500 

For Engraving, Printing and Binding 5,000 

For field, office, traveling and incidental expenses 5,000 



Total $40,000 



I earnestly hope that this subject may not be lost sight of in 
the multiplicity of the business of your present session. Above 
everything else, we should have a correct Geological Survey, 



. r )54: Public Addresses. &< .. of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



clearly setting forth our natural resources, which many of us 
believe cannot be surpassed by any other section of the globe. 

THE PAN AMERICAN EXPOSITION. 

There will be held at Buffalo, in the State of New York, the 
present year, an Exposition of the industries and products ot 
North, Central and South America. This great Exposition will 
open its doors to visitors May 1. next, and will remain open until 
October 31, 1901. The scope of the enterprise is, perhaps, not so 
broad as was that of the Columbus Exposition at Chicago, a 
few years ago, but the intention of the management is to make 
it, in all respects, as large, and. in some features, even larger. 
About a year ago, at the request of the Director General, I ap- 
pointed a Board of six Commissioners to represent West Vir- 
ginia's interests and industries at this forthcoming Exposition. 
The Commissioners met and organized several months ago, but 
could do but little for lack of funds. 

In order that the great industries of our State might be prop- 
erly presented at this Exposition, after consultation with th^ 
Board of Commissioners, it was deemed impossible to wait until 
the assembling of your Honorable Body, when an appropria- 
tion could be asked for to meet the necessary expenses involved 
in preparing exhibits, and after a conference with a number of 
our leading citizens of both of the prominent political parties, 
I decided to borrow §10.000. for the use of the Commission, and 
they promptly begun active work in arranging a proper exhibit 
of our resources at the Exposition. A proper State building 
has been let to contract, and an agent employed to collect and 
arrange exhibits, so that West Virginia will not be behind her 
sister States at this great show of the New World's products. 

The Commission is composed of wise, capable and conservative 
business men, who have entered upon their duties with unpar- 
alleled vigor, and if I mistake not. it will never be said of them 
that they did not do their full duty. 

Many of the States have already set apart large sums of mon- 
ey, in order that their industries may be fully represented at 
the Exposition. I, however, do not favor an unnecessarily large 
appropriation for this purpose, and I am quite confident that 
our State Commissioners will be conservative and reasonable 
in their demands : but I do ask that you will make an appropria- 
tion sufficiently large, to enable them to fully satisfy all of the 
people who may attend the Exposition, that West Virginia is 
in the front rank in natural resources and advantages. 

AMENDMENTS TO CORPORATION LAWS. AND STATE 

REVENUE. 

I earnestly direct the attention of the Legislature to the im- 



Message. 



555 



portanee of certain amendments to the corporation laws of the 
State. Many minor amendments to make the laws harmonious 
and more explicit are needed, but these I shall not discuss. The 
principal changes I recommend are, first, that the limitation be 
^jaken off as to the amount of land corporations may hold. This 
limitation comes down from the State of Virginia, and in ear- 
lier years may have been necessary, but it is no longer so. There 
is now no danger that corporations may unduly infringe upon 
the land of the State. The second proposition I desire to submit 
is that the law limiting the capital stock of corporations, except 
railroad and internal improvement companies, be removed. A 
bill passed the Senate of the last session of the Legislature for 
this purpose among others, but was defeated in the House, for 
the reason, asl understand, that it would promote or facilitate the 
promotion of what are known as Trusts. I do not think this ob- 
jections obtains. In amending the corporation law, a proper 
provision could be inserted for the control or dissolution of 
Trusts. Whether a Corporation is a Trust or not is not to be 
judged by the amount of its capital stock. Indeed a Trust is as 
much likely to be formed out of a number of small corporations 
as to be embodied in one of large capital. This is an age of 
large enterprises, requiring large capital, and many good cor- 
porations have been compelled to turn away from the juster and 
more liberal laws of this State to other States, because of this 
limitation as to the amount of capital stock. Several corpora- 
tions which were formed in this State have been compelled to 
withdraw from the State, to be reincorporated elsewhere because 
their business demands a larger capital stock than was allowed 
by our laws. I would not suggest any provision that would fa^ 
cilitate the formation of Trusts, but, as I have stated before, 
whether a Corporation is a Trust or not is not to be judged by 
the amount of its capital stock. The revenues of this State from 
the license tax on corporations should be much larger than it 
is. New Jersev receives from this source, more than $3,000,000,-- 
000, a year, and is thereby enabled to forego any State tax on 
land and personal property. 

In addition to the amendments I have suggested, there should 
be another which would increase the amount of license tax on 
corporations having a certain amount of capital stock, and this 
tax should be graduated in proportion to the amount of capital 
stock actually paid in. Our corporations now are divided into 
two classes as concerns the amount of annual license tax paid 
to the State, and are popularly called "foreign" and "domestic" 
corporations. A domestic corporation is one having its principal 
office or place of business within the State, and it being presum- 
ed that such corporation will have its property or at least its 
personal property located in the State to be taxed by the State 
for State, county and district taxes, it is charged but ten dollars 



556 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



per year license tax. A foreign corporation is one having its 
principal office, or place of business, without the State, and it be- 
ing presumed that such corporation will have no property with- 
in the State to be taxed as such, it is required to pay f 50 a year 
license tax. The law as to what is a foreign corporation "and 
what is a domestic one needs to be amended, as many corpora- 
tions have been chartered within this State as domestic corpor- 
ations; and are paying but ten dollars a year license tax, that 
in fact are foreign corporations and should pay fifty dollars. 
Under the present administration, this practice has been stopped 
as far as possible, but the officers have had to do so by rather 
arbitrary means, and on the broad ground that it was their du 
ty to protect the State. I see no reason why with proper amend- 
ments to our laws, West Virginia should not receive at least a 
million dollars a year from the license tax on corporations, and 
if this result is accomplished, the state tax on the property of the 
citizens of the State could be largely reduced, and in course of 
time entirely abolished. I sincerely ask that this matter receive 
your careful and earnest consideration. 

In this connection, I desire to call your particular attention 
to the urgent necessity of increasing the revenues of the State. 
We have started out to construct many needed improvements 
which are demanded for a more liberal care of our helpless and 
unfortunate citizens. Mercy and kindness require this at your 
hands. Our educational work, along all lines, is growing. Great- 
er appropriations, therefore, seem imperative. The many new 
public buildings already begun, should be vigorously pressed to 
speedy completion. The present income of the State is wholly 
insufficient to carry these much needed improvements forward, 
and one of three things must necessarily be done by the Legisla- 
ture: 1. The rate of taxation must be increased; 2. Present 
public improvements must be hampered and prolonged; 3. The 
income from licenses on corporations, chartered by the State, 
must be increased, as I have already shown can and should be 
done; and I may add a fourth alternative, viz: A special assess- 
ment for building purposes, which has been done more than 
once in the history of the State. 

I am unalterably opposed to the increase of the rate of taxa- 
tion; to the hampering of the work already so well and vigor- 
ously begun by preceding Legislatures; to anything even squint- 
ing of special assessments; but I am earnestly in favor of so re- 
vising our corporation laws as to give us a largely increased rev- 
enue, without perceptibly burdening any particular class of tax- 
payers, and, in fact, without increasing the taxes of the mass 
of our people at all. 

The question of State revenues, therefore, is the all important 
subject with which you will be called upon to deal at your pres- 
ent session. How to continue the work of State development, 



Message. 



557 



without overreaching the income of the State, and without bur- 
dening our tax-payers unjustly, and without involving the State 
with debt — which cannot be done under our Constitution — is 
a grave problem, and deserves your most thoughtful considera- 
tion. 

REDISTRICTING THE STATE. 

One of the important missions you will necessarily be required 
to perform, is to re-district the State for members of your own 
body, and perhaps for Members of Congress also, as it is more 
than probable that West Virginia, under the new apportionment, 
will be entitled to an additional member of the National House 
of Representatives. Ten years ago, when the State was re-dis- 
tricted, the apportionment was so unjust, not to say unconstitu- 
tional, as to be almost universally condemned by all well mean- 
ing people. In view of this fact, I recommend and urge that 
these apportionments be made, not with a view of any political 
advantage which may arise therefrom, but wholly along lines 
of fairness and justice to the people in all of the counties and 
districts of the entire State. This, I am confident, you will be 
pleased to do in accordance with the oaths you have all taken to 
carry out the wishes of the voters who honored you with the ex- 
alted positions which you now hold, of making the laws for all 
classes, creeds and political parties of the State of West Vir- 
ginia, without fear or favor to any individual party or class. 

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS. 

While I do not desire to assume the responsibility of recom- 
mending the call of a Convention to frame a new Constitution, yet, 
at the same time, it is evident to all well informed West Virgin- 
ians that our present Constitution is inadequate, in many re- 
spects, to meet existing conditions, and needs, to say the least, 
many radical changes. Whether it is better to call a Constitu- 
tional Convention, or to submit individual amendments to the 
people, I leave to your thoughtful consideration. It is probable 
that a deliberative body of district representatives may be pro- 
vided, to be, say, half as large as our Legislative assembly, which 
will give all sections and classes proper representation, and thus 
be easier controlled and save to the tax payers a large sum of 
money. Your own good judgment shall be mine upon this very 
important subject. 

COMPULSORY EDUCATION. 

I cannot lay down my official trust without insisting upon the 
passage of a more practical and effective compulsory education- 
al law by the Legislature of West Virginia. Notwithstanding 



558 Public Addresses, &c,, of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



the fact that we have a superior system of public schools in ev- 
ery county in the State, the number of boys and girls that do not 
attend them is simply appalling. If parents persist in allowing 
their children to grow up in ignorance, when free school houses 
stand almost within the shadow of their homes, then, in my can- 
did opinion, they ought to be compelled to send their children 
to school and be summarily punished for a failure so to do. The 
State of West Virginia, in these enlightened times, cannot af- 
ford to allow a very large part of her citizens to grow up in 
ignorance, and thus swell the ranks of the criminal classes, and 
in this way become a burden upon the people at large. 

The last session of your Honorable Body recognized this ex- 
isting evil, and attempted to remedy it; but it has, so far, proved 
ineffectual. Section 10a of Chapter 45 of the Code of 1899, is a 
step forward in accomplishing important results. If this law 
were enforced, nothing more would be necessary. But somehow, 
no one seemingly has busied himself to carry out its provisions. 
To make it effective, some one must be clothed with authority 
to act. The streets are thronged with children who should be 
in attendance upon the public schools. Xo one now in authority 
seems to care for the enforcement of this important statute. 
What, then, can be done? One remedy lies, as I have suggested, 
under the head of ''Employment of Child Labor," in this Mes- 
sage, is in making it a penal offence for contractors of labor to 
employ young children in their respective establishments. This 
provision ought to be enacted and enforced; and, then, it seems 
to me, that the officers whose duty it is to enforce our laws, will 
see to it that the multitude of children whose parents do not send 
them to the public schools, in order that they may not be allow- 
ed to grow up in ignorance, when the State benificently provides 
for their education, without money and without price. I would 
also suggest another amendment to the section above referred 
to, making it the duty of all county superintendents of schools, 
all boards of education, and all school trustees and teachers to 
report any and all persons for arrest, who do not strictly comply 
with the provisions of this statute, except in cases where children 
are physically unable to attend school, and this should be es- 
tablished by physicians' certificates, under oath. In my humble 
judgment, this matter is of the very gravest importance, and 
deserves most earnest consideration at your hands. 

ELECTION FRAUDS. 

The use of money at elections in this State has in recent years 
grown to such proportions as to call for most serious consider- 
ation. Corruption at the ballot box, the very fountain head of all 
free institutions, is one of the greatest dangers to which our 
State can be exposed. The crime of bribery is one which ex- 



Message. 



559 



perience has shown to be most difficult to detect and punish. 
Notwithstanding the earnest efforts made by careful legisla- 
tors in other States, no apparent satisfactory remedy for the 
unlawful use of money at elections has been devised. 

The present law ought to be amended so as to include every 
species of bribery. 

But it must be remembered that no law, however compre- 
hensive, or stringent in its provisions, is self-executing, and 
that no enactment against bribery and corruption of voters, can 
be made entirely effective, until public sentiment co operates 
with the judiciary in its enforcement. 

I suggest and urge that our present election law be amended, 
at fewest, in three important particulars: 1. After the election 
officers have declared the result at each precinct, the ballots 
should be immediately destroyed, in order to prevent post-elec- 
tion frauds. 2. Our present law, which makes the one who buys 
and the one who sells a vote, equally guilty, should be amended 
so as to affix a severe penalty only upon the seller, and not upon 
the buyer. In this way collusion will be entirelj' shut off, and 
the voter who barters his highest right as an American citizen, 
can be convicted of the crime; and, 3. Every candidate for a 
public office, either in a primary or at a general election, should 
be required to submit an expense account under oath, showing 
the amount of money expended by himself personally, or through 
any agent or friend for election purposes, and making it a felony 
for him to submit a false or evasive statement. It seems to me 
that if these requirements are made, bribery at elections may be 
measurably lessened, if not entirely eradicated. That something 
must be done is apparent to all, and I earnestly urge that no one 
will shirk responsibility upon this very serious and important 
question. The time has arrived for heroic action, and I sincerely 
trust that it will be fearlessly undertaken. 

ADVISORY BOARD OF PARDONS. 

One of the wisest and most beneficial acts of the last session of 
the Legislature was the creation of an Advisory Board of Par- 
dons. The necessity for the establishment of this Board was 
two-fold: 1. The State had become too large for the continuance 
of a "one-man power" in handling applications for pardons; and, 
2. it was too great a burden upon the Chief Executive to dis- 
charge this important duty with proper care and deliberation. 

The two years of faithful and efficient service of this State 
Board, has been most satisfactory. Both of the members of the 
Board were selected because of their eminent fitness for care- 
ful judicial work. They have been painstaking and courageous 
in all of their acts. They gave ample hearings to the attorneys 
of all prisoners applying for pardons, and scrutinized the testi- 



560 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



mony with as much carefulness, as if they were sitting as judges 
in the original trials of the cases. This sort of work was ex- 
pected of them when they were appointed, and at no time have 
they failed to perform their full duties. 

The law governing this Board, however, should be materially 
amended. I would recommend (1) that they have authority to 
summon and compel the attendance of witnesses; (2) that they 
should be paid at least $10 per day for the time deemed neces- 
sary for a proper discharge of their duties, which would be but 
a small compensation for lawyers of their standing in the profes- 
sion; (3) that they be allowed a clerk with proper salary, espec- 
ially equipped to keep and maintain the records of the Board, 
which should be a court of record; (4) that the members of the 
Board and the clerk thereof be authorized to administer oaths to 
all persons whose testimony is deemed necessary to be taken 
in cases that are being heard, and that they be empowered to 
commit all such witnesses for contempt as may prove obstrep- 
erous, recusant, or recalcitrant, as in other courts of record; (5) 
that they be allowed a bailiff or tipstaff, whose duty it shall be 
to maintain proper order and decorum while the Board is in ses- 
sion, and also to serve their proper and necessary processes; (6) 
they should hold bi-monthly sessions and be allowed proper 
time to look carefully into every meritorious case that is regular- 
ly presented for their consideration; and (7) the members of the 
Board should be appointed by the Governor for the term of two 
years, but it should be so arranged that one member of the Board 
shall, if it is deemed necessary to make a change, retire each year. 
In this way one of the members will always possess one year's 
experience in office. 

All of these points are worthy of your consideration, and I 
am sure it will be your pleasure to weigh them carefully. 

THE IRREDUCIBLE SCHOOL FUXD. 

I again call your attention to the provision of our State Con- 
stitution (Sec. 4, Art. XII.) relative to what is termed the ''Ir- 
reducible School Fund." In my last message, I submitted, in 
accordance with my best judgment, several important reasons 
why we, as a State, should cease to pile up an educational fund 
for the benefit of the children of coming generations. I am still 
of opinion that the course we are now pursuing, in this respect, 
is unwise, unjust and impolitic. Why the present generation 
should provide an educational fund for subsequent generations, 
is something entirely beyond my comprehension. We should 
use our utmost endeavors to contribute proper education* to our 
own children, at public expense, and allow the future to take 
care of itself. 

As a matter of course, this vast fund cannot be touched, ex- 



Message. 



561 



cept by an amendment to the Constitution. It is, however, an 
easy matter for the Legislature, to submit to the people an 
amendment to the Constitution, allowing some sort of immediate 
use of this large sum of money, which is annually growing larger 
by its own accretions, and is doing no one any apparent good. It 
has always impressed my mind that the proper thing to do is to 
either distribute this fund in annual installments among the sev- 
eral public schools of the State, and thus increase the school pe- 
riod one or more months each year, or set it apart as a permanent 
endowment fund of the State University, allowing only the inter- 
est thereon to be used. At any event, some action should be 
taken thereon, which will allow the use of this fund in a way 
that it will avail something to the people in the times in which 
we are now living. 

I desire to call your attention to a full discussion of this sub- 
ject by the State Treasurer, in his report of the present year. It 
embraces both the law and facts bearing upon the question, and 
is worthy of your careful consideration. 

PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS. 

Without intending to reflect upon any particular Prosecuting 
Attorney, I deem it my duty, under my oath of office, to recom- 
mend a change of our statute relative to these officers. The first 
step which should be taken is to make Prosecuting Attorneys, 
like the Sheriffs, ineligible to succeed themselves. This will re- 
sult in the faithful discharge of their duties in collecting tines 
due the State, and not stop with the collection of the officers' 
fees only, which is the common custom. This charge, however, 
does not apply to all Prosecuting Attorneys, but it applies, I 
think, to the most of them. It will also prevent these officers 
from laying pipe to succeed themselves, and will certainly les- 
sen the issuing of "nollies," especially in revenue cases. A Prose- 
cuting Attorney, when he knows he cannot succeed himself in 
the same office, will be more vigilant in the discharge of his 
duties, and will undoubtedly be more useful to the State in en- 
forcing its laws. Section 16 of Chapter 138 of the Code, in my 
judgment, should be amended so as to provide for the payment 
of fines, before the Prosecuting Attorney is entitled to receive 
his fees. If these provisions are carried out, the treasury of the 
State will be materially enlarged every year. 

The Constitution provides a term of four years for Prosecuting 
Attorneys, and unlike the provision relating to Sheriffs, is silent 
as to the matter of re-election. I cannot believe that the charge 
of unconstitutionality could be maintained, if the Legislature, in 
its wisdom, should deem it proper to limit Prosecuting Attor- 
neys to one term. 



562 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



POLITICAL CONVENTIONS AND THE STATE JUDICIARY. 

I am now more than ever convinced that all State Judges 
should be selected at times and places separate and apart from 
Conventions called to nominate or select candidates lor all other 
classes of officers. This will insure greater carefulness in the se- 
lection of members of the Judiciary, and cannot fail to redown 
to the advantage of the people generally. I therefore suggest 
the enactment of a law requiring all political parties to eomply 
with this proposition. 

LEGISLATIVE LOBBYISTS. 

The Legislative bodies of practically all of the States are 
afflicted with a class of men, who make lobbying for the pnssage 
of measures a regular business. Such conduct, to say the ^ast, 
in most cases, is reprehensible and ought to be frowned upon by 
all well meaning people. It is entirely proper that legislative 
measures for the public weal, should be looked after; and it is 
also proper that all good citizens should use their best endeavors 
to prevent the enactment, by any sort of chicanery, of deleter- 
ious measures. I refer only to that class of persons who prepare 
Bills, and manage to have them offered by some one, with a view 
of levying black-mail upon interested parties, to prever.t the 
enactment of the same after they have been submitted. Such 
things have been done in this State; and is becoming all too 
common in many sister States, and it ought to be inhibited by 
all well meaning people, in and outside of legislative bodies. 

You enter together upon the responsible and honorable duties 
which have been entrusted to your hands by the people of West 
Virginia, and I have every reason to believe that you will prove 
yourselves not unworthy of their confidence. May whatever leg- 
islation that is enacted be for the common good of all. The 
humblest and the most powerful petitioner alike should be re- 
quired to depend wholly u^on the justness of his cause iu every 
matter submitted for your consideration. No unworthy in- 
fluence, born of selfishness or greed, in whatsoever specious 
guise, should be allowed to approach your halls of legislation. 
Private interests, I need only intimate, should be held ever sub- 
ordinate to the public welfare. I am sure you will sf*e to it that 
reason shall prevail over passion and prejudice, and the voice of 
the sophist or the demagogue, if such should be raised, shall be 
powerless to mislead. 

In these days, when Legislatures are subjected to criticism 
and disparagement, not always without cause, may West Vir- 
ginia present the spectacle of a Legislature vigilant, fearless and 
wise, which shall be truly representative of the best thought and 



Message. 



563 



highest aspiration of an intelligent, patriotic and progressive 
people. So shall we be instruments to perpetuate the honor and 
fame of the Commonwealth, and to transmit unimpaired the heri- 
tage we have received from our fathers. 

STATE FLAG AND FLOWER. 

The time has arrived, it seems to me, when West Virginia, 
should, by an act of its Legislature, adopt both a Flag and a 
Flower, as its proper State emblems. Other and older States 
have done both, and we should, I think, fall into line. 

Some months ago, my Private Secretary, General E. L. Boggs, 
prepared a design for a State Flag-, which attracted particular 
attention at a National Charity Bazar, recently held in New 
York City, for the benefit of the sufferers of the Galveston flood. 
It consists of the Stars and Stripes, with the State Seal in the 
centre of the flag. I had a photograph of it taken, which will 
be presented for your consideration. 

For a State Flower, I know none more beautiful, and none 
more common in West Virginia, than the Rhodedendron. It 
is found along almost every vale and hillside, and is universally 
admired both for its beauty and fragrance. 

I therefore recommend the adoption of the flag and flower 
above described, and trust it will be your pleasure to ratify 
the same. 

GAME AND FISH WARDEN. 

In 1897 the Legislature took the first practicable step for the 
preservation of Game and Fish. The natural adaptation of West 
Virginia for game and fish is not excelled by any of the eastern 
States. New York appropriates from |60,000 to" $75,000 annual- 
ly for the protection and propagation of game and fish, while 
Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan nearly as much. West Vir- 
ginia spends almost nothing. 

The Legislature of 1899 even failed to appropriate eneagh to 
pay the mileage and expenses of Warden E. F. Smith spent in 
enforcing the Act. of 1897. 

The Act of 1897 is an excellent one; but for a proper execution 
thereof the office of Game and Fish W r arden should be made a 
salaried one, with actual traveling expenses, with power to 
deputize in each county. The pay of the deputies should come 
from convictions secured by them and their jurisdiction should 
extended only to their respective counties. With a proper system 
of verified reports, this would afford ample machinery for the 
execution of these valuable laws. 

COMPILATION OF OUR PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 

I find our public records and documents in the archives of the 



564 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



State in a very incomplete and unsatisfactory condition. While 
the Governors of recent years, apparently took proper precau- 
tions to arrange and publish, in enduring forms, the public rec- 
ords of the State, yet the early Governors did not seem to be 
impressed with the importance of arranging and publishing, in 
enduring form, the important records of their respective admin- 
istrations. 

I can find no official records relating to the "Restored Govern- 
ment of Virginia." I have also made dilligent effort to secure 
the journals of the Legislatures from 1861 to 1864, and hsve not 
been able to find them. I find more or less irregularities in the 
preservation of these records, until the administration of Gov- 
ernor Fleming, when, it seemed, that a new system of preserv- 
ing State records was inaugurated. While we have, in good 
shape, the laws and ordinances of the Restored Government of 
Virginia, and Governor F. H. Pierpont, yet the documents and 
journals, during that period, cannot be found, unless, perhaps, 
the originals, are in existence, and I hope they are; but it is a 
big undertaking to find them, and one would hardly know where 
to begin to look for them. 

Under the later Governors of the State, it has been the cus- 
tom to bind all messages, reports, documents and papers into vol- 
umes, in order that they might be properly preserved; but in 
former years, they were bound separately and apart from the 
journals, and cannot now be found. I find no Inaugural Address 
of any Governor of the State printed in any bound volume of the 
State's doings, not even my own. This, of course, was an over- 
sight. These documents are a part of the important history of 
the State, and yet they have not been preserved in enduring form. 
I, myself, am guilty of neglect of duty in not seeing to it that 
this "reform" was started with my own administration. I also 
find in the two volumes, which are presumed to contain a full 
exhibit of my administration for the first two years, and yet I 
find, in looking these volumes carefully over, that the reports 
of the following State Institutions, which were made to me and 
were duly printed, were not bound in these two volumes: The 
Deaf, Dumb and Blind Institution, the West Virginia Colored 
Institute, the State Normal Schools, the West Virginia Univer- 
sity, the Agricultural Department of the State, the State Peni- 
entiary, the State Board of Dentistry, Fishery and Game War- 
den, and State Board of Pharmacy. 

While it may be true, and I think it is, that a few of these 
State Boards did not make reports to me, as the law requires, 
yet I am sure some of them did submit carefully prepared re- 
ports, and yet, for some unknown reason, they were not bound 
with the other reports as a part of the enduring records of mv 
administration. Some one is guilty of culpable neglect and I, of 



Message. 



565 



course, must assume my share of responsibility. All I can do 
now is to see that for the remainder of my administration, these 
neglects shall not again occur. 

It, therefore, seems that all of our State Executives, myself 
among the number, have been direlict in duty in seeing that 
these public records should be properly preserved. It is pain- 
fully evident that our public records are wofully incomplete, and 
some action should be taken by your honorable body, without 
unnecessary delay, to hunt out and print, in enduring form, all 
of these missing records in order that the State's archives may 
be perfected and completed. I beg, in view of these unfortu- 
nate conditions, to suggest that a Historical Commission be des- 
ignated by your Honorable Body to perform, at least, two im- 
portant duties: 1. To have all of the public records, papers and 
documents, from 1861 to the present, or at least to a point to 
where the records are found complete, and a supply sufficient to 
meet all reasonable demands, collected, edited and classified, and 
printed in a series. 2. To devise and adopt a systematic plan 
for the publication and preservation of all of our State archives 
in the future. 

WEST VIRGINIA CHILDREN'S HOME SOCIETY. 

The last session of your Honorable Body enacted a law (House 
Bill No. 68), for the purpose of ameliorating the condition of 
homeless and indigent children, who are or may be confined in 
the infirmaries of the State. The passage of this law was in- 
stigated mainly by the West Virginia Children's Home Society. 
This society is based upon the common sense principle of finding 
homes for children, instead of massing them together in Child- 
ren's Homes, and allowing them to remain practically uncared 
for in county poor-houses. The present statute is not broad 
enough to meet the wants of this and other similar societies. T 
therefore suggest that a provision be added, which will allow 
county courts or boards of commissioners to expend a sum, not 
exceeding $50, in each case, to pay the expenses of any Benevo- 
lent Society that will agree to find good and proper homes for 
such indigent children. 

MILITIA AND HOME GUARD CLAIMS. 

During the Civil War, it became necessary to call into active 
service certain companies of Militia and Home Guards, for the 
protection of the lives and property of loyal citizens. This con- 
dition prevailed for the first two years of the war, and in some 
localities, during the whole time of the great struggle for the 
Union and Constitutional liberty. Some of these troops did 



566 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



heroic service for the State and Nation, and were a valuable aux- 
iliary to the Union Army. In many instances they were called 
upon, under circumstances unavoidable, to endure great hard- 
ships and privations. As a general thing, none of these troops 
were prepared to take the field regularly; they were, however, 
given guns, cartridge boxes and cartridges, but no blankets, 
overcoats or rubber coverings, such as were furnished to the 
regular volunteers, and no tents were issued to them; and yet, 
they were ordered suddenly and precipitately to distant parts of 
the State from their places of rendezvous, to assist the Union 
Army, when hard pressed, and sometimes they were water bound 
for weeks, exposed to inclement weather, at which times much 
suffering w 7 as endured. We are told that many organizations as 
these received no pay whatever for their services during those 
trying times. 

Many of these brave and heroic West Virginians, were very 
poor and unable to serve their country without pay, and now, 
after the lapse of more than three decades, with many of them 
decrepid and aged, their case is before the Representatives of the 
State, asking for justice to be meeted out to them. Most of these 
men, after rendering this service, subsequently entered the reg- 
ular volunteer service as soldiers, serving to the end of the 
struggle. Their claim ought at least to be fairly adjudicated. 

I will add further that the United States Congress has pro- 
vided that all such claims which may be paid by any State, for 
services in suppressing the rebellion, will be re-imbursed by the 
General Government. 

I recommend, therefore, that a Board be authorized, whose 
duty it shall be to diligently inquire into this matter, and in or- 
der that every honest claimant may be facilitated in proving 
his claim. It is suggested that provision be made for said Board 
to sit in each Congressional District of the State, in order that 
claimants may have opportunity to prove their accounts with as 
small expense to such claimants as possible. Such law should 
be framed with a view of finding and honestly adjudicating every 
such case in the State, so that just payment may be made. 

west virginia historical and antiquarian 

society:. 

The West Virginia Historical and Antiquarian Society is in 
a prosperous and promising condition; it is adding steadily to 
its library and museum, both of which are highly appreciated 
and largely visited by the public. 

In order to more fully carry out the purposes of the Society, 
it has decided to publish a Historical Magazine in which to 
gather up and preserve the past and current history of the State; 



Message. 



567 



the first number of this magazine will be issued and laid on the 
desks of the members early in the session to give them an idea 
of the intent and scope of the work intended. 

The society has fully vested in the State all its right and title 
to its books, general collection and whatever it has. 

The Board of Public Works has assigned to the Society one 
floor in the new Annex building, which will give it room for a 
much better display of what it has and allow for expansion. 

The Society has accomplished much under difficulties and with 
very small State aid, compared to what othes States have done 
and are doing for their Historical Societies. 

Our Society has now become one of the valuable educational 
institutions of the State, and I recommend that you grant it a 
liberal appropriation to carry on its work; say $5,000 for the 
two years. 

BERKELEY SPRINGS PROPERTY. 

The State owns a valuable property at Berkeley Springs in 
the county of Morgan, and for some cause it has never been 
properly developed. Two years ago a lengthy lease was granted 
by special act of the Legislature to Dr. Chancellor, of Baltimore, 
who under the provisions thereof was required to construct a 
commodious hotel upon the springs property. He, however, did 
not erect the hotel, and the property is wholly inoperative for 
want of hotel accommodations. The Board of Directors has se- 
cured another lessee, and will ask your Honorable Body to ratify 
the same during your present session. The water of these won- 
derful springs can never be utilized until a large and properly 
constructed hotel is erected at the springs on the property owned 
by the State, and I trust a contract can be so framed as to bind 
and compel the party or parties to whom it may be leased, to con- 
struct a building that will meet the demands of the public. 

The present Board of Directors is too large and unwieldy, and 
in my opinion, is not properly constructed. I recommend there- 
fore that a bi-partisan Board be provided for, composed of* five 
members only — one from each Congressional District and one at 
large, and that they be paid the same compensation as other 
State Boards. Unless this is done, I cannot believe that this 
property will ever be made to yield any revenue to the State. 

SEPARATE APARTMENTS IN COUNTY JAILS. 

In most, if not all of the county jails of the State, no provis- 
ion is made to separate the boy criminals from older and more 
confirmed violators of law. That such separation should, in all 
cases, be made cannot be doubted. And provisions should also 



568 Public Addresses, &c., of Got. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



be made by every county for a sufficiency of apartments in the 
county jail to keep insane persons temporarily confined, separate 
and apart from those confined for crimes. I know of no way to 
bring these measures about, except by the passage of a general 
law requiring it to be done, and to provide a penalty for its non- 
enforcement; and I therefore recommend that such law be 
passed. 

THE NEW ARMED CRUISER "WEST VIRGINIA." 

The United States Government is now engaged in building and 
equipping several new Armed Cruisers, and among the number 
is one to be christened "West Virginia." This, I regard, a dis- 
tinguished honor to our State, as only six of these vessels are 
now building. I would suggest that a committee of your Hon- 
orable Body be appointed to confer with the Honorable Secre- 
tary of the Navy, to inquire what, if anything, is expected of our 
State relative to this particular ship. That some recognition of 
the matter should be taken, goes without saying, and I trust that, 
m the hurry of business, it will not be overlooked. 

A STATE CIRCULATING LIBRARY. 

In my last Bi-ennial Message, I called attention to the import- 
ance and need of the practical and popular method of education 
through what is known as a "State Circulating Library." 

In these times of improved educational methods, an important 
auxiliary to our public schools is the free public library. Many 
of our sister States have enacted laws which place good books, 
of all kinds, at the disposal of the people generally, in the rural 
sections, as well as in the cities and towns. Wherever tried 
these traveling libraries have proven popular as well as useful. 
The growing popularity and recognized merit of the system, 
justify me in again calling your attention to the subject. It has 
been found that these libraries not only encourage a desire on 
the part of the people to read and study, but they encourage the 
establishment of literary clubs among farmers, business men 
and young men and women generally in all of the varied walks 
of life. That the general weal will be greatly aided by such a 
library system, I do not think any one will question or doubt. 

THE GENERAL LEWIS MONUMENT. 

In 1875 the sum of f 3,500, was appropriated by the Legislature 
to erect a monument at Point Pleasant, to commemorate the bat- 
tle which was fought, in 1774, between the Americans, under the 
command of General Andrew Lewis, and the Indians. This fund 



Message. 



569 



was placed at interest; and in 1897, the Legislature passed a 
joint resolution, which directed the Governor to appoint a com- 
mission of three, whose duty it shall be to proceed to construct 
the monument as was intended by the Act of 1875. Whereupon, 
I named as said Commissioners Judges J. W. English and F. A. 
Guthrie, and Dr. Andrew R. Barbee. Two years ago, the Com- 
missioners reported to me that owing to the high price demanded 
by the owners of the land, where the monument should be lo- 
cated, it was impossible to proceed with the erection of the mon- 
ument, and accordingly nothing was done. 

The Commissioners have not submitted to me a written report 
this year, but one of the members of the Commission verbally 
informed me that the fund now amounts to about f 11,000, and 
that some f 10,000 of it is on deposit in a Point Pleasant bank, 
and is not drawing interest. The remainder of the fund is in 
the hands of a citizen of Mason county, is bearing interest, and 
can be collected whenever it is needed. It is the opinion of the 
member of the Commission with whom I conferred, that if your 
Honorable Body will make an additional appropriation sufficient- 
ly large to purchase a lot of ground — say fl,000 to $1,500, the 
Commissioners can, with the money now on hand, proceed to 
erect a monument commensurate with the magnitude of the bat- 
tle, and with the dignity of the State as well. 

In order that the work may go on to an early completion, and 
a creditable monument may be constructed, I recommend the ad- 
ditional appropriation requested by the Commissioners. 

A STATE PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT. 

As a natural sequence of the development and growth of the 
State, the time, perhaps, has arrived for the State itself to un- 
dertake, at least, to endeavor to equip itself with a print- 
ing plant in which to do its own printing. The Slate 
Auditor will very soon occupy rooms in the Capitol Annex, and 
the large, airy and w T ell lighted rooms in the Capitol building, 
now occupied by him will be vacated. These rooms are espec- 
ially suited for a State Printing Office. If the State siiould un- 
dertake to do its own work, no one now engaged in the printing 
business would necessarily be injured thereby; a public printer 
would have to be appointed by the Governor, who would be re- 
quired to purchase raw materials by competitive bids, and em- 
ploy competent printers to do the printing and binding under his 
directions. In this way, the rights of no one would be necessar- 
ily infringed upon, and the State would undoubtedly secure a 
better class of work, and at less prices than are now paid. One 
or more of the States have tried the experiment, and, I am in- 
formed, that it has proven even more than satisfactory. 



570 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



TEACHERS FOR COUNTY POOR HOUSES. 

It is strange but true, that but few, if any, of the counties of 
the State, provides teachers for the indigent children who. of 
necessity, must be kept in the county poor-houses. In a civilized,. 
Christian land, this should not be allowed. Children should not 
be permitted to grow up in ignorance in our midst, even if their 
parents are too poor to support them, and thus require the dif- 
ferent counties to provide for them in alms houses. 

I therefore recommend the enactment of a law, which will re- 
quire every County Court, or Board of County Commissioners, 
to provide a teacher for every poor-house in the State, whose 
duty it shall be to teach the children confined therein, the same 
number of hours per week as are required in the public schools 
of the respective counties. 

ENLARGEMENT OF GOVERNOR'S MANSION. 

The Governors Mansion is inadequate for the needs of any 
Executive, however small his family may be. Two years ago I 
employed a competent architect to prepare a plan of an addition 
to the building, which he did, together with specifications and 
the probable cost of the improvements. I submitted the matter 
to the Legislature two years ago, and asked an appropriation of 
|2,000.00 for that purpose. The appropriation, however, was 
not made, and consequently the work was not done. 

I have conferred with Governor-elect White, relative to this 
matter, and it is only proper for me to state, that there is an 
insufficiency of room in the Mansion for him to properly care for 
his family. I therefore earnestly request that an appropriation 
of |2,000.00 be set apart for this particular purpose. The plans 
and specifications may be found at my office. The expenditure 
of the amount of money suggested, will increase the value of the 
property more than it will cost to carry it into effect. 

ELECTRIC LIGHT PLANT. 

The last session of the Legislature appropriated $8,000.00 to 
construct an electric light plant for the Capitol building and 
grounds. It has been in operation for perhaps a year, and has 
been satisfactory to all of the officers and clerks in the building. 
We have found, however, that one dynamo is insufficient, and, 
therefore, another of equal voltage should be added, and T re- 
quest that a committee be appointed to investigate and report 
as to the advisability of carrying out this sugestion, and the cost 
thereof. 



Message. 



571 



COLORED DEAF AND BLIND CHILDREN. 

It is rather remarkable that West Virginia has made no pro- 
vision for the education of the colored deaf and blind within its 
limits. The Board of Directors of our Deaf and Blind Institution, 
in order to provide for several colored children, afflicted with 
deafness and blindness, incurred a considerable debt in a Balti- 
more School that was prepared to receive that class of pupils. I 
recommend the prompt payment of this indebtedness; and I also 
ask that proper provisions be made for this class of unfortunate 
West Virginia children for the future. 

STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. 

This State Board has been burdened with work the past two 
years, mainly on acount of small-pox, which has prevailed to a 
greater or less extent, in almost every section of West Virginia. 
The State Board of Health, however, met the plague heroically, 
and was of material benefit to the county and city Boards of 
Health throughout the State. Small-pox is still prevalent in a 
number of counties, but is less dreaded by the masses than in 
former years. Corralling the patients and vaccination are the 
two principal remedies. The masses are careless about vaccin- 
ation, and many of them are averse to it. 

County Courts frequently fail to render proper assistance in 
promptly stamping out epidemics, but I presume it is impractical 
to enact a law that will meet such cases. A few of our counties, 
notably Fayette, have taken proper steps to meet emergencies 
of this character. The County Court of Fayette constructed a 
pest-house and a house of detention. All suspects are sent to the 
house of detention, and small-pox patients, as a matter of 
course, are shipped directly to the pest-house. If all of the 
counties would take this course, the pest could be easily con- 
trolled. 

The report of the State Board of Health causes many subjects 
of interest, and to it, I respectfully refer you for complete de- 
tails. 

I respectfully suggest the importance of giving more attention 
by city, county and State Boards of Health to bacteriological 
methods of study and practice. These methods, it appears to my 
mind as a layman, are essential to correct conclusions relative to 
contagious diseases. In the examination of drinking water, from 
which many diseases arise, I should think that chemistry and 
bacteriology would so supplement each other as to make their 
joint verdict invariably reliable. My information on matters of 
this sort, lead me to the conclusion, looking at it purely from 



572 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



the standpoint of a layman, that in the diagnosis of infectious 
diseases, bacteriological methods should be able to remove all 
doubts, and should give to practicing, physical and sanitary of- 
ficers, firm ground upon which to stand. 

The high ground taken by our State Board of Health relative 
to a fixed standard for physicians to pass before they are allow- 
ed to enter upon the practice of medicine in West Virginia, 
should be universally approved. It is now next to impossible 
for a charlatan or mountebank to get license to prescribe medi- 
cine for our people. This is right, and I hope the standard will 
be raised, instead of lowered. There is no subject which I com- 
mend to your more earnest consideration than that of the pub- 
lic health. Your careful attention, therefore, is called to the 
bi ennial report of the Board. 

MINERS' HOSPITALS. 

The session of the Legislature two years ago, appropriated 
$15,000.00 each for the erection of three Miners' Hospitals at 
different points in West Va. These Hospitals were located re- 
spectively at Welch, McDowell county, McKendree, Fayette 
county, and Fairmont. Marion county. Plans and specifications 
prepared by competent architects, were procured, and contracts 
were awarded for their construction under competitive bids. All 
three of them are nearly completed. One of them, I am inform- 
ed, will be ready for opening and occupancy, within four or five 
weeks. These Hospitals are models of architecture, and will, I 
am confident, be properly conducted, and will prove a blessing, 
especially to the coal miners and railroad employees, who are 
very numerous in our State. The Boards of Directors of each of 
them, are composed of substantial business men, who have re- 
ported all of their operations, and to these reports I most re- 
spectfully refer you, as I am sure you will be interested in read- 
ing what they have set out in detail. 

CRIMINAL LIBEL AND SLANDER. 

In my first message to the Legislature, I called attention to 
the necessity of the enactment of a statute that would protect 
citizens, and especially those in olfice, from the attacks of the 
villainous, irresponsible, worthless character assassin. More and 
more I see the absolute necessity of the enactment of such a 
law. I would not presume, in any way, to abridge the right of 
free speech and a free press, but I would place about all of our 
citizens a protection, in the shape of a statute, which will de- 
fine as a crime, any false or malicious attack, either by speech 



Message. 



573 



or publication, upon an}- one, whether he is in or out of office. 
We have well defined laws which protect our personal and 
property rights, but nothing but the Common law, to protect our 
characters and reputations from the irresponsible villain, who 
has no property out of which to procure damages, from saying 
or publishing whatever his malicious nature may inspire. Let 
speech be free, and let the press remain free, but by a criminal 
statute, let the mouth and the pen of the assassin of the charac- 
ter of an upright man or woman be stilled. I sincerely hope 
that this legislative body will have the courage to meet this is- 
sue squarely. 

STATE INSURANCE. 

In May, 1898, I called the attention of the Board of Public 
Works to the importance of a general overhauling of the insur- 
ance on the public buildings and their contents belonging to the 
State, and suggested the employment of an expert insurance 
man to visit all of the public buildings, and report generally 
thereon. The Board concurred in my suggestion, and Mr. 
Charles F. Littlepage, whom I knew possessed special qualifi- 
cations for that sort of work, was employed at a salary of $10 
per day and expenses. He entered upon the undertaking May 
23, 1898, under the impression that he could complete the work 
in 45 days. His instructions were to ascertain the cost of con- 
struction of each particular building; the value of the furniture 
therein; the amount of insurance on each building and contents; 
the forms of all of the policies; the amount that could be re- 
covered on each piece of property, in case of fire; the extent of 
damage that would follow a supposed total loss by fire; the 
rates that were being paid on each and all of the buildings; 
whether any or all of the buildings were under or overinsnred; 
and especially to ascertain whether the policies were concurrent 
In short, he was instructed to report in detail upon any and 
all matters connected with the insurance of the State's property, 
and report thereon. 

Mr. Littlepage began his work May 23, 1898, and very soon 
thereafter learned that, because the specifications and plans 
which covered the construction of practically all of the State 
buildings could not be found, it was therefore necessary for 
him to prepare estimates of the cost of each particular building, 
before he could determine the amount of insurance that should 
be placed upon any of them. This necessarily required a vast 
amount of time, experience and patience. He, however, contin- 
ued his labors until he was able to submit a report to the Board 
of Public Works, covering every possible detail, which could 
arise in adjusting a loss, in case any or all of the State build- 



574 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



ings were destroyed by fire. These details are voluminous, but 
are so arranged that the interests of the State cannot be over- 
ridden in adjusting any loss which may occur in the future. 

The time which was given to this work, Mr. Littlepage in- 
forms me, instead of 45 days, as it was at first supposed to be 
sufficient, was really more than a full year. I had agreed to 
pay the costs of the undertaking out of my Contingent Fund, 
but I soon found that, because of its specific limitations, I could 
not do so, and I therefore paid him only $850.00, and his actual 
expenses incurred while doing the work, were a large part of 
that amount. 

The details pertaining to all of the State buildings, which he 
presented to the Board of Public Works, would, if printed, make 
a good sized volume. These details are on file in the office of 
the Secretary of State, and unquestionably are of great value 
to the State. Selections were culled from the report and were 
printed in pamphlet form, and have been subsequently used by 
the Board of Public Works in dealing with the insurance upon 
the State's property. 

I subjoin Mr. Littlepage's letter to the Board of Public Works 
in submitting his detailed report. This letter, in plain language, 
explains the field of inquiry covered by his investigations, and is 
briefer than I could possibly make it, in order that all of the 
facts may be fully placed before you. 

Charleston, W. Va., July 27, 1899. 

TO THE HONORABLE BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS, 
OF THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA: 

Gentlemen : — 

With a view of giving you an outline of the condition of things 
met with in the investigation of the State's Insurance, of con- 
veying an idea of the dangerous effects to the State's interest, 
of the insurance methods confronting this and former admin- 
istrations during the past twenty years, and of trying to show 
the immediate and ultimate benefits growing out of the work of 
systematically revising the insurance written on the State's 
property, I beg leave to call your attention to the following: 

Of the 74 buildings considered in the Insurance Estimates 
on the State's property, 38 had records from which values, &c, 
could be ascertained; 36 were without records, except as to age; 
neither estimates nor contracts of the costs of constructing the 
buildings were found; 3 of the buildings were properly insured, 
as to value, but under objectionable policy forms; 4 inade- 
quately insured; 48 excessively over-insured; 12 insured under 



Message. 



575 



void insurance contracts; and 7 without any insurance at all 
on them. The original cost of the above buildings was about 
fl,750,336.00. Of the personal property, which originally cost 
about $179,195.00, about 30 per cent, was insured under objec- 
tionable contracts, because the values were exaggerated and 
the distribution of insurance with reference to the same was 
found to be unsatisfactory. Of the personal property insured, 
the value of the property was equal to about 45 per cent, of the 
insurance in force on the same. 

Of the $956,240.00 insurance found in force on the State's 
property, $534,740.00 was found to represent void and exces- 
sive insurance. Of the remaining $421,500.00, classified as val- 
id insurance, $150,000.00 was under voidable insurance con- 
tracts, because of technical insurance conditions existing in the 
Policy Forms covering on the property, which practically held 
the State subservient to the Insurance Companies, in the event 
of loss, should the Companies avail themselves of the advan- 
tages enjoyed under their contracts, thus leaving on the State's 
property $271,500,000 insurance out of the $956,240.00, upon 
which the State could depend as being perfectly reliable indem- 
nity. Of the $271,500.00 insurance still remaining, $28,000.00 
was written on the "Mechanical Hall" and contents, at the 
West Virginia University. This property was about five years 
old, and as far as has been ascertained, cost the State about 
$55,000.00. It was destroyed by fire since the work of revis- 
ing the State's Insurance was begun, and the loss was adjusted 
at $26,000.00, the State paying $2,000.00 salvage to the Com- 
panies carrying the insurance, which would finally leave $243,- 
500.00 of the original $956,240.00 insurance in force. When 
considering the per cent, of salvage made by the Insurance 
Companies in this instance— $2,000.00 of the "$28,000.00, or 7 
per cent. — as a basis of calculation, the State would have re- 
maining on its entire property $226,460.00, or about 24 per cent, 
of the original volume of insurance on which it has been pay- 
ing premiums during, at least, the last twenty years. 

Of the premiums amounting to $17,519.94, paid by the State 
on the basis of three-year Insurance Contracts, it was found 
that $10,122.25 was being paid on void and excessive Insur- 
ance Contracts, or that during the past twenty years, about 
$67,480.00 of the State's money has passed through this source 
into the hands of insurance companies, without the remotest 
benefits accruing to the State therefrom. 

If the facts disclosed by the methods of adjusting the loss 
on the "Mechanical Hall" and contents, are to be taken into 
account, when considering the technical advantages in favor 
of the Insurance Companies, carrying the $150,000.00 insurance 



576 Public Addkesses, &c, of Got. G. W. Atkinson. 



referred to, the State has been paying premiums on $956,240.00 
insurance during the entire time, while it has only been enjoy- 
ing the possible benefits arising from about $252*500.00 of in- 
surance, and it has paid about $28,368.00 in premiums on valid 
insurance contracts, and $88,438.00. in premiums on worthless 
insurance during the last twenty years. 

Under the plan of revising the State's Insurance, the fore- 
going methods have been thoroughly considered, and every 
precaution taken to eliminate them from the Insurance Con- 
tracts to be written on the State's property, by ascertaining as 
accurately as practicable, Insurance values of the property to 
be insured, then causing equitable distribution of the insurance 
with reference to such values, requiring concurrent Policy 
Forms with privileges contained in the same that will change 
the relative positions of the contracting parties, and more equit- 
ably consider the State's interest in the premises. 

The amount of insurance necessary to cover the property un- 
der former insurance contracts, was found to be $496,000.00. 
The insurance necessary to cover property not included under 
the above contracts, is' $146,000.00, which will require $642.- 
000.00, under revised Insurance Contracts, to adequately cover 
the State's Interest in property thus far known, so that the 
following will be found to be approximately true: 

Ins. found in force under former contracts $956,240 00 

Ins. recommended under revised contracts 642,000 00 

Showing a reduction in vol. of insur. of 33 per ct., or. 314,240 00 

Valid ins. recommended under revision 642,000 00 

App. valid ins. in force under former ins. contracts. .421,500 00 
Increase of valid ins. under revision, 52 per cent. or. . 220,500 00 

Under former insurance methods, the $956,240.00 insurance 
found in force, was costing the State $17,519.94, every three 
years. The additional $146,000.00 necessary to cover the State's 
property not covered under former contracts, would cost, pro- 
portionately, $2,674.72, for the same term of years, making a to- 
tal cost to the State of $20,194.66 in premiums, in order to cov- 
er its insurable property. Under the Revision, the $642,000.00 
recommended on the State's property costs the State, for the 
same term of years, $10,749.28, showing a difference between 
the costs to the State of $9,445.38 in three years. To this add 
$1,271.50 of void insurance premiums, and $1,577.15 of propor- 
tionate short rate premiums refunded to the State by the In- 
surance Companies carrying the State's Insurance, making a 
total savage to the State, on a basis of 3 years, of $12,294.03. 
Under former conditions, for five years, the $956,000.00 found 
in force, cost the State $29,199.90; the $146,000.00 of new in- 



Message. 



577 



surance would cost $4,457.87, on the same basis, making a total 
cost, for the insurance found in force and the amount neces- 
sary to cover its insurable interest, of $33, 657.77, for a term 
of five years. Under the Revision, $642,000.00 for 5 years costs 
the State $16,086.67, showing a difference between the costs 
of former and revised insurance contracts of $17,571.10, to 
which add $1,271.50 of void premiums, and $1,577.15 of propor- 
tionate short rate premiums, as above, showing a salvage to 
the State, on a basis of five years, under the Revision, of $20,- 
419.75. 

Your Honorable Body, having adopted the 5-year plan of in- 
surance, under the Policy Forms, Estimates and Recommen- 
dations submitted in my final Report on the Revision of the 
State's Insurance, has caused an approximate net salvage to 
be made for the State, as compared with former conditions, of 
$20,419.75. The most important benefits derived from the re- 
vision of the State's Insurance will be the protection arising 
from more equitable Insurance Contracts covering on $642,- 

000. 00 worth of the State's property which might possibly be 
damaged by fire, and approximately a million and a half dol- 
lars' worth considered otherwise than from an Insurance point 
of view. When the plan of revision shall have been finally 
completed, any citizen, by an examination of the Expiration 
Books containing the data, can ascertain, at any time, the 
amount of insurance in force, the Companies carrying the same, 
and the number of policies covering on every plant, individual 
building, and all classes of insurable personal property owned 
by the State. In other words, the State will have its Insur- 
ance systematically arranged in keeping with proper Insurance 
methods, instead of the dangerous confusion met with under 
former conditions. 

Verv respectfully. i 

CHARLES F. LITTLEPAGE. 

I have laid this entire subject before yon for several reasons: 

1. Because the State, for a quarter of a century, or more, has 
been paying large sums of money on excessive valuations of 
the costs of its buildings, and it could not, therefore, have col- 
lected anything like the amount of the insurance it was car- 
rying, in case of even total losses by fire. 2. It is a waste of 
the people's money to carry insurance on buildings for a greater 
sum than the cost of repairing or rebuilding any property de- 
stroyed by fire. 3. It is a woeful waste of anybody's money to 
place insurance on any buildings, or parts of buildings, (such 
as foundations) which could not possibly be injured by fire 4. 
Only the real injury to a building, and nothing more, will be 



578 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



paid by Insurance Companies, in case a fire occurs. 5. All 
probable losses to any particular building can be carefully com- 
puted, even before a lire occurs. 6. All insurance policies should 
be concurrent, to avoid litigation, in case a lire should occur. 
7. All insurance policy forms should be technically written, so 
as to comply in every particular with the law pertaining to any 
specific piece of property owned by the State. That is to say, 
if the statute creating a certain State Board makes it a corpor- 
ate body, the insurance should follow the technical language of 
the statute, in order to avoid complications in the adjustment of 
losses by fires. 8. By taking out policies of insurance for five 
years, instead of three, according to the custom which has pre- 
vailed on State property for more than a generation, the State 
receives the benefit of two fifths of the cost of its insurance. 
That is to say, if a policy of insurance is taken out for the 
term of three years by the State, instead of one year, it w T ill 
have the benefit of one year free, and if taken for five years, 
it will have two years' insurance free; and, 9, and finally, all 
insurance policies were cancelled, at short rates, and others 
were written, so as to make all policies of the same date, and 
all of them concurrent, and therefore all of them will hereafter 
expire at the same time. 

Therefore, while it cost a considerable sum of money to bring 
about the results I have enumerated, in the end, it is money 
saved to the treasury, and I trust that it will be your pleasure 
to allow Mr. Littlepage a proper compensation for the valuable 
service he has, at great pains, rendered to the tax-payers of 
West Virginia. 

UNIFORM DRESS FOR INSANE PATIENTS. 

I am impressed with the idea that it would be cheaper for 
the State, and more satisfactory to the patients in our Insane 
Hospitals and their friends, also, to adopt a uniform dress, or 
style of clothing, for all of the patients. If this idea impresses 
you favorably, a short statute will meet the requirement. 

FISH COMMISSIONERS. 

The many creeks and rivers throughout West Virginia ren- 
der it a splendid field for Fish Culture. No State in the Union, 
perhaps, has advantages superior to West Virginia in this re- 
spect. 1 am firmly convinced, therefore, that we should have 
a well organized and active Board of Fish Commissioners, 
whose duty it shall be to foster the fishery interests of the 
State; to advise the Legislature in all matters pertaining to 



Message. 



579 



fishery legislation; and to secure by protective, fish cultural, 
and educational methods, the increase of useful water products. 
At least one member of the Commission should be a man oi 
scientific attainments, competent to intelligently deal with the 
biological phases of fish commission work. 

Four years ago, the Legislature created the office of Game and 
Fish Warden, and although no appropriation was set apart to 
make the office effective, yet much valuable work has been done 
in preserving our fish and game. That was a step in the right di- 
rection; and now, it seems to me, another step forward should 
be taken to increase the product of our waters. It will be the 
duty of the Commission to produce the fish, and of the Warden 
to protect them. Other States have enacted such a law, and 
West Virginia should keep in the van of progress. 

"JIM CROW" RAILROAD CARS. 

West Virginia has never adopted a law which abridged the 
rights and privileges of any of its citizens, on account of race, 
condition or color, and I hope it never will. The States of Vir- 
ginia and Kentucky, however, have enacted statutes which 
prevent colored people from riding in railroad cars along with 
white people, and one of the railroads which passes across a 
portion of our State, has on one occasion, at least, ejected col- 
ored citizens from one of its trains, because they declined to 
occupy seats in a car which was set apart exclusively for col- 
ored people. I do not think such action was in any sense justi- 
fiable, and especially so, since no Legislative Assembly of West 
Virginia has ever adopted a statute allowing a discrimination 
of that character. When citizens pay full fare for passenger 
privileges on any railroad train in this State, they should not 
be proscribed because of race or color, and I therefore recom- 
mend that our existing statute be so amended as to prohibit 
such discrimination in the future. 

ADJUTANT GENERAL'S PUBLICATIONS. 

For the past four years, in addition to the regular duties of 
his office, Adjutant General John W. M. Appleton, has been 
hard at work preparing a correct roster of all West Virginia sol- 
diers who participated in the war of the Rebellion and the war 
with Spain, and also of all home guards who rendered service 
to the State during the civil war. The manuscript which he has 
compiled will, when printed, make three royal octavo volumes. 
The value of these records cannot be over estimated, and by all 
means should be published. General Appleton, in his annual 



580 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



report, asks an appropriation to cover the expense of printing 
the results of his four years' work, and in his request I fully con- 
cur. He found it necessary to borrow a small sum of money 
($300.00), in order to pay additional clerk hire to complete the 
manuscript of his books, to get the work ready for the printer 
by the time of your present assembling. I recommend a special 
appropriation to refund to him this sum of money. 

TAXING PIPE LINES. 

Under the existing statutes, the Board of Public Works can- 
not tax the oil pipe lines, which, in a sense, honeycomb a good- 
ly number of our counties, for the reason that the owners of 
these lines only transport their own products, and not the pro- 
ducts of others, and therefore, perhaps, cannot be classed as 
common carriers, or public transportation companies. Up to 
this time, the Board of Public Works has not assumed con- 
trol of the taxation of this large and valuable class of property 
within the State, which should bear its proper share of the bur- 
den of taxation. The Board, however, by many inquiries of the 
County Assessors, has found that they have assessed the pipe 
lines in most of the counties; but there is no uniform rule 
among them in fixing the value of this class of property, and 
their assessments are necessarily uneven and unsatisfactory. It 
is my opinion that the State, by this system of assessments, is 
losing a large amount of revenue which justly belongs to it, and 
it cannot be remedied until the general law is so amended as 
to require pipe line companies to make sworn annual state- 
ments to the Board of Public Works, in the same manner as 
railroads and other common carriers report. It is not my pur- 
pose to endeavor to impose improper or unjust taxation upon 
them, and it seems to me that it would be to their interests to 
have the tax levied by the Board of Public Works, where it 
would be uniform and fair, than to have County Assessors to 
fix valuations, without any uniformity whatever. The impor- 
tance of this matter is worthy of your thoughtful consideration. 

CHAPLAIN TO THE PENITENTIARY. 

It is a remarkable fact that our State penitentiary has never 
had a regularly employed Chaplain, to look after the moral 
and spiritual interests of the prisoners. In my last message* 
I called your attention to this fact, and I now beg to again re- 
quest that the law relating to the government of the peniten- 
tiary, be so amended as to authorize the appointment of Chap- 
lain, who shall remain at the prison continuously, and devote 



Message. 



581 



all of his time in encouraging the convicts to reform, and thus 
resolve to live moral and upright lives in the future. So far 
as I can learn, ours is the only State of any magnitude, which 
does not maintain such an officer. 

FINAL REMARKS. 

The foregoing observations and recommendations conclude 
my second and last Message to a West Virginia Leigslature. 
I shall retire from the chair of the Chief Executive with grate- 
ful thanks to the people of West Virginia for the high honors 
they have bestowed upon me, and to my associates of the pres- 
ent administration for the many courtesies and kindnesses that 
they have extended to me. 

From my induction into office until the present, I have en- 
deavored, at all times, to keep before me the Constitutional in- 
junction u he shall take care that the laws be faithfully execut- 
ed ;" and I have also had constantly in mind that other important 
declaration of the Constitution, that "all citizens of the State 
possess equal civil and political rights and public privileges." 
In the discharge of my official duties, I have avoided discrimi- 
nating in favor of any class, race or creed, and have done my 
utmost to be the Governor, not only of the political party that 
elected me to office, but of all the people as well. 

Some may claim, and indeed have done so, that I have been 
too liberal with the pardoning power. That I have been ex- 
ceedingly cautious, and perhaps too much so, at times, in the 
exercise of this prerogative, others insist cannot be truthfully 
denied; and yet, on the whole, the number of cases to which 
clemency has been extended, are no more than the average of 
my predecessors, when the number of convicts are taken into 
consideration. At any rate, if I have made mistakes, I hope 
they have been on the side of mercy, which, as a learned text 
writer expresses it, "more becomes a magistrate than too stern 
justice." What I have done in all things, I have done for the 
best, according to the light that was before me, and I leave my 
acts in the hands of my people, who will, I am sure, render a 
just and impartial verdict. 

Trusting and believing that your present session will be 
marked by wisdom, prudence and moderation in all that may 
come before you, and that your brief sojourn at the Capital of 
our prosperous and growing State, may be both pleasant and 
profitable, I beg to subscribe myself . 

Your most obedient servant, 

GEO. W. ATKINSON, 

Governor. 



A Tribute to a Deceased Friend. 



583 



A TRIBUTE TO A DECEASED FRIEND. 



State of West v IRGIN1Aj 
Executive Chamber, 

Charleston, Dec. 1, 1900. 

Frank W. Clark, Esq., 

New Martinsville, W. Va., 

My Dear Sir: I heartily approve your suggestion that the 
" Wetzel Democrat" should publish an edition in memory of its 
late distinguished editor, Col. Robert McEldowney, and I trust 
that your suggestion will be successfully carried out. 

It was my plesaure to know Col. McEldowney personally, 
and, I may say, intimately for more than a quarter of a cen- 
tury. Although he and I differed in our political views, we 
were always the very best of friends. We were associated to- 
gether at different times in the trial of important cases, and 
were always opposing each other in matters of a political char- 
acter. We have had many frieDdly discussions on varied sub- 
jects, and I invariably found him well informed, courteous, gen- 
tlemanly and manly. Two things were peculiar to Col. McEl- 
downey, and I think every one will agree with me as to these. 
First, he was always well dressed. I never saw him that he did 
not look as neat and as clean and, as the old saying is, like he 
had just emerged from a "band box." He was invariably up to 
date in his method of dress and personal appearance. Second, 
It made no difference where one met him, whether in the court 
room, on railroad trains, in editorial office, in political discus- 
sions, anywhere, everywhere, he was always a gentleman, and 
the term "gentleman," in point of fact, embraces the entire 
make up of a manly man. 

Although those who knew Col. McEldowney regarded him as 
a man of far above ordinary ability, yet only a few who got 
really close to him knew of his transcendent natural ability 
and power. Ponderous in physical stature, always being the 
one of all others most observed in any gathering of men, he 
was as brainy as he was large in stature. Invariably felicitous 
in conversation, full of anecdotes and illustrations, chaste, 
though crisp in expression, he could see a point as quickly as 
any other man I ever knew, and could apply it with wonderful 
force and effect. 



584 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



He was an able newspaper editor, and towered above the 
most of bis co-editors, especially as a paragrapher. He was 
apt in framing aphorisms. His sentences were short and crisp, 
and his satire was resistless. Always good natured in all that 
he wrote, yet his powers of sarcasm and ridicule were of the 
highest order. 

He had naturally a poetic mind. Had he begun early and 
trained himself carefully, he would have been a great poet. He 
saw everything through poetic vision, and his prose writings 
were often largely tinged with poetry. During his illness he 
wrote several poems that any one who has the capacity to 
judge what poetry is, will pronounce real poetry. He only, how- 
ever, occasionally attempted poetic composition. 

Taken from the throng of the living at the zenith of physical 
and mental manhood, his friends were deeply grieved, and all of 
us miss his genial and generous associations. He was my 
friend, and a friend of all who sought to do right and perform 
their duties well. He was an all round manly man, and was 
upright and true. "Peace to his ashes; rest to his soul." 
Most truly yours, 

Geo. W. Atkinson. 



A PROCLAMATION BY THE GOVERNOR. 



Whereas, at the December term of the Circuit Court of Pres- 
ton County, held at Kingwood, the seat of Justice of sai3 Coun- 
ty, J. Wesley Beatty, was tried and convicted of the crime of 
murder in the first degree, without recommendation of mercy 
to the said Court, and was thereupon sentenced by the Judge 
thereof to be hanged at the Penitentiary of the State of West 
Virginia, February 15th; and, 

Whereas, Application has been made to me by the attorney 
of the said Beatty for a respite until Friday, the 12th day of 
April next, for the purpose of applying to the Honorable Advis- 
ory Board of Pardons of this State, with a view of commuta- 
tion of sentence to life imprisonment in the Penitentiary of this 
State; and, 

Whereas, it is certainly proper that said Beatty, by his coun- 
sel, should have an opportunity to have his case heard before 
said Advisory Board of Pardons, which meets early in the 
month of April next; 



A Proclamation by the Governor. 585 



Therefore, I, G. W. Atkinson, Governor of the State of 
West Virginia, do hereby grant to said J. Wesley Beatty a re- 
spite until the 12th day of April, A. D., 1901, and hereby direct 
that in the event a commutation of sentence is not granted to 
the said Beatty, he shall, on said 12th day of April, at the Pen- 
itentiary of the State of West Virginia, be, by the Warden of 
said prison, hanged by the neck until he is dead. 

Given under my hand this 4th day of February, A. D., 1901, 
and in the thirty-eighth vear of the State. 
[Seal.] 

G. W. Atkinson. 

By the Governor: 

W. M. 0. Dawson, 
Secretary of State. 



EXECUTIVE ORDER. 



Whereas, at the January term, 1901, of the Circuit Court 
of Raleigh county, J. A. Lilly was convicted in two cases on 
charges of violation of the Revenue Laws of the State, and was 
sentenced by the Judge of said Court to pay a fine of |25.00 in 
each case, and the cost of the prosecution, and was sentenced to 
the county jail for the term of twenty days in each case, making 
forty days imprisonment; and, 

Whereas, it appears from facts set out in a petition pre- 
sented to me, duly signed by a number of reputable citizens of 
said Raleigh county, that said Lilly has paid the fines and costs 
in both of the cases above referred to; and, 

Whereas, the said Lilly is in a weak state of health result- 
ing from a severe case of typhoid, fever, and the County Jail of 
said County is in a bad sanitary condition, making it a serious 
risk to his health to have him confined at this time; and, 

Whereas, the facts set out in the petition above referred, to 
show that it is questionable as to whether said Lilly should 
have been convicted of the offenses charged against him, be- 
cause of the equivocating character of the testimony of the 
one witness for the State, who testified against him, and also 
as to the character of the sales of liquor, which it is alleged that 
he made, he having ordered liquors in conjunction with other 
parties from an authorized dealer in liquors for private use, and 
not for sale to others; and, 

Whereas, said petition sets out the fact that said Lilly de- 
sires to present his case to the Honorable Advisory Board of 



586 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



Pardons for relief from said terms of imprisonment, and inas- 
much as the regular session of said Board does not take place 
until about the expiration of said sentence, a respite is asked 
until the 15th of April, when his case can properly be presented 
to the Advisory Board of Pardons. 

Therefore, I, G. W. Atkinson, Governor of the State of 
West Virginia, do hereby order and direct that said J. A. Lilly 
shall be released from the County Jail of Raleigh County until 
that time, and if the Advisory Board of Pardons does not grant 
relief to him, it is hereby ordered that he shall be imprisoned 
on the 15th day of April, and shall be required to serve the re- 
mainder of the forty days term of sentence imposed upon him 
by the Circuit Court of Raleigh County. 

Given under my hand this 5th dav of Februarv, A. D., 1901, 
and the 38th year of the State. 

[Seal.] G. W. Atkinson. 

Bv the Governor: 

W. M. 0. Dawson, 
Secretary of State. 



MEASURES AND REFORMS WHICH SHOULD BE ACCOM- 
PLISHED. 



State of West Virginia, 

Executive Chamber, 
Charleston, January 8, 1901. 

Paul Latzke, Esq., 

Room 1917, No. 150 Nassau Street, New York. 

Dear Sir: Our State Legislature is in session, and my answer 
to your inquiry of the 2nd inst. must therefore be brief, and 
necessarily hastily prepared. 

Your inquiry reads as follows : "What is the most important 
measure or reform that should be accomplished in your State 
during the 20th century, and what National measure would be 
most beneficial to the people of the United States at large?" 

First. General reform is needed along many lines, both State 
and National. I would place first, among State reforms, the 
enactment of a uniform divorce law. The laws of some of our 
States are so lax in this respect that the annulling of marriage 
contracts is almost a farce. If all of the States maintained the 
same law on this subject, divorces would be much more diffi- 
cult to secure, and consequently marriage contracts would be 



Measures and Reforms. 



587 



considered very much more carefully than they now are before 
they are entered into. 

Second. I have thought much on the subject of municipal 
ownership of public utilities, and have found that there are 
two sides to the question. It is easy enough for a town or city 
to own its gas and electric plants and its water works, which 
prevails in many localities, but to go farther and undertake 
the control of street railroads, telephones, and the like, open 
up difficulties and embarrassments hard to control. 
I am quite sure that every town and city should have 
absolute control over its water works and plants for furnishing 
light to the people, but I doubt very much the propriety of 
going farther along that line. As to the Nation becoming the 
owner of railroads and telegraph lines, I have regarded always 
as impracticable and impossible. I mention two principal ob- 
jections: (1) It is beyond the financial ability of the General 
Government to provide a fund sufficiently large to purchase 
railroads and telegraph lines, and, (2) it would tend too much to 
the centralization of power in the General Government. To my 
mind, it seems impossible for the Government to appoint all 
of the employees necessary to operate such industries. 

Third. I regard the construction of the Nicaragua Canal 
as one among the most important public works that can be car- 
ried through during the century. Its value to the commerce 
not only of the United States, but of the civilized world, can 
scarcely be estimated. I am clearly of opinion that this great 
undertaking will become a fixed fact within the first quarter 
of the new century. 

Fourth. Our American shipping facilities is another matter 
of great importance to the American people. The fact that 
only about nine per cent, of American products are shipped on 
American bottoms, shows the importance of our own people 
owning their own ships to carry our own commerce. 

Fifth. The building of a more powerful American Navy is, of 
course, of less importance than the measures above referred to. 
Nevertheless, to maintain the high character and standing of 
our great Republic, a larger and better equipped Navy is essen- 
tial. 

Sixth. A higher standard of moral excellence should be re- 
quired of public servants in the public service. I am glad to note 
that the people are moving forward in this respect. Unques- 
tionably there is a healthier sentiment existing now than at any 
former period of our National history. Moral qualifications in 
candidates for high places are more and more considered as 
essentials to the public welfare. 

Very respectfully yours, 

G. W. Atkinson. 
Governor of West Virginia. 



588 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNOR. 



State of West Virginia. 
Executive Chamber. 
Charleston, February 8, 1901. 

Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Delegates: 

My attention has been called to a letter addressed by the 
Clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States to the Attor- 
ney General of this State, under date of January 22nd, 1901, re- 
lating to the pendency of a case in the Supreme Court of the 
United States, styled "S. D. Hatfield, et al., Appellants, vs. 
Henry C. King, No. 526, October term, 1900," in which it is pre- 
sumed that the State of West Virginia has certain equitable 
interests which should be looked after by the State. 

The appeal referred to in the letter of the Clerk of the Su- 
preme Court of the United States, is taken from a decree of the 
Circuit Court of the United States for the District of West Vir- 
ginia, holding null and void Sections 3 and 16 of Article 13 of 
the Constitution of West Virginia, forfeiting lands for non- 
entry on the Land Books and non-payment of taxes thereon, 
and transferring the forfeited lands to certain Junior grantees 
and other occupants. 

The letter of the Clerk states that on the 21st day of January, 
1901, the Supreme Court entered an order in said cause, as fol- 
liows: 

"Supreme Court of the United States, 
No. 526, October Term, 1900. 

S. D. Hatfield, et al., Appellants, 
vs. 

Henry C. King. 

"It is ordered by the Court that this cause be and the same 
is hereby restored to the docket for oral argument, and the 
Clerk is directed to bring this order to the attention of the 
Attorney General of West Virginia." 

The Clerk of that Court has transmitted to Attorney General 
Rucker a copy of said order, along with a copy of the record of 
said cause, and the briefs of counsel therein. 

Believeing that the State's interests should be heard at the 



Special Message. 



589 



oral argument so ordered by the Supreme Court, and with tha i 
view, I recommend that the Board of Public Works be author- 
ized to employ the Attorney General of this State to appear- 
and argue the cause as invited in said ordeer. 

Yery respectfully, 

(x. W. Atkinson. 

Governor. 



SENATE BILL NUMBER 105. 
Reasons by the Governor for Approving' the Same. 



This bill amends and re-enacts, so as to reduce into one act 
the three several acts heretofore passed relative to the charter 
of the town of New Martinsville. 

The point has been raised before me that New Martinsville 
does not contain the requisite population prescribed by the Con- 
stitution to allow the Legislature to enact a special charter. 
The Constitution, section thirty-niii % article six, and section 
forty-seven of chapter forty-seven of the Code, place an inhibi- 
tion upon the enactment of a special law chartering a town of 
fewer than two thousand inhabitants. But I do not believe that 
these inhibitions can be applied to the bill now before me, for 
the following reasons: 

1. The town of New Martinsville was originally chartered by 
an act of the Legislature of Virginia, passed in 1837, and in 
1866 the charter was amended; and in 1871 an act was again 
passed amending the charter of the said town of New Martins- 
ville. The Constitution did not interfere with any of the char- 
ters of the various towns and cities in the State granted, by the 
Legislature of Virginia, so that any charters granted previous 
to the formation of the State, or previous to the adoption of the 
Constitution of 1872, was therefore at the passage of the Con- 
stitution a valid charter. It is true that the Constitution pro- 
vides that after its adoption, no special act shall be granted 
chartering towns of less than two thousand population, or 
amending such charters; but according to Judge Cooley, in his 
great work on Constitutional Law, such provision is only pros- 
pective in its operation; and besides, a careful reading of the 
Constitution, and a correct interpretation of that provision, 
makes it to include charters granted, or asked for after its pass- 
age, and. means to prohibit the granting of such charters or 
such amendments, and leaves the old acts of the Legislature of 



590 Public Addresses, &e., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



Virginia, passed before the war, as they then were. Now, un- 
less we can amend charters granted under either, we are wholly 
without remedy, for there is no provision anywhere in the Con- 
stitution for reaching them by auy general law; and there is 
no prohibition in the Constitution preventing the Legislature 
from amending acts (and charters are acts) passed previously to 
that time. Thus, it seems to me, that the population question 
does not enter into this matter at all. 

2. There is, as I have stated, a controversy among the citi- 
zens of New Martinsville upon the question of the population 
of the town under the provisions of the proposed new charter. 
One side to the controversy claims that the real population is 
greater than the requisite two thousand inhabitants, and. the 
other sets up the claim that it is less. It seems to me that this 
is a question of fact which was passed upon by the members of 
the Legislature, and they having agreed upon that point by the 
adoption of this act, it is not proper for me to re-open that ques- 
tion. I therefore cannot persuade myself that it is the prerog- 
ative or duty of the Executive to consider such question, even if 
the Constitutional proposition to which I have referred, were a 
material issue, which, in my judgment, it is not. 

3. I am also of opinion that the question of the population 
of a town seeking a charter, is solely legislative, and it is a very 
doubtful matter in my mind, when the Legislature has satisfied 
itself on the point of population, whether the Executive or the 
courts can go back of the act to enquire as to whether the Leg- 
islature acted correctly or not. The case of Luscher vs. Scites, 
4 W. Va., page 11, involves this proposition. In that case the 
question at issue w T as, whether Lincoln county, which had then 
been created, possessed the area and. population under the lim- 
its of the Constitution to become a county. The question was 
distinctly raised in a suit brought to restrain the collection of 
taxes, on the ground that the act creating the county of Lincoln 
was unconstitutional and void, because the county did not con- 
tain within its boundary lines the requisite number of square 
miles or the requisite number of population, and also because 
the county of Cabell was reduced below the constitutional area. 
The court held in that case that the subject of creating new 
counties belongs to the Legislature alone by the provisions of 
the Constitution; that to exercise the power thus conferred, the 
Legislature must inform itself of the existence of the facts such 
as area, population, etc., prerequisite to enable it to act on the 
subject ; how the Legislature shall do so and on what terms, it 
alone must determine; and. when the Legislature has so deter- 
mined, acting upon the knowledge before it, it must conclude 
further inquiry by all the departments of the government; and 
the final action terminating in an act of legislation in due form, 
must of necessity presuppose and determine all the facts pre- 



Senate Bill No. 105 



591 



requisite to the enactment. The courts therefore cannot go 
into an inquiry as to the truth or falsity of facts upon which an 
act of the Legislature is predicated, where the latter has sole 
jurisdiction of the subject, and what is true of the judiciary de- 
partment of the State must apply also with equal force to the 
executive department. 

In view of these facts, I approve Senate Bill No. 105, amend- 
ing the charter of the town of New Martinsville. 

GEO. W. Atkinson, 

Governor. 

Charleston, February 12, 1901. 



EXECUTIVE PROCLAMATION. 



Whereas, At the January term, 1901, of the circuit court of 
Wayne county, one George W. Copley was convicted of a felony, 
and was sentenced to the penitentiary of the State for the term 
of two years, by the judge of said court; and, 
judge of said court, from the 8th day of the present month, in 

Whereas A stay of thirty days was given said Copley by the 
order to afford said Copley an opportunity to present his case 
to the Advisory Board of Pardons; and, 

Whereas, Said Pardon Board does not meet until after the 
expiration of the stay granted by the judge in this case; and, 

Whereas, A large number of the reputable citizens of Wayne 
county do not believe that the said Copley should be sent to the 
penitentiary, and believe that when the facts are presented to 
the Advisory Board of Pardons, that said Board will recom- 
mend that a pardon may be granted in his case; and, 

Whereas, From the statement of facts submitted to me in 
this case, I deem it proper that the case should be heard by the 
Advisory Board of Pardons before the sentence of the court is 
carried out; 

Therefore, I, George W. Atkinson, Governor of the State of 
West Virginia, do hereby grant a respite of thirty days in this 
case from the 8th day of March, 1901, and unless the said Cop- 
ley is pardoned on or before the expiration of this respite, he 
shall be conveyed to the penitentiary by the sheriff of Wayne 
county, in accordance with the sentence of the circuit court of 
said county. 

Given under my hand this 15th day of Febru- 
[Seal.] ary, A. D., 1901, and in the 38th year of the 
State, 

By the Governor, G. W. Atkinson, 

Wm. M. O. Dawson, Governor. 
Secretary of State. 

t 



592 Public Addresses, &c., by Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



SENATE BILL NO. 139. 
Views of the Governor Thereon. 



The question is raised before me that the town of St. Mary's 
did not contain the requisite population required by section thir- 
ty-nine, article VI of the Constitution, to authorize the Legisla- 
ture to grant a special charter to said town. This, therefore, in- 
volves a question of fact, and the problem left for me to solve 
in approving or disapproving the bill, is whether the Executive, 
which is one of the three co-ordinate departments of the State 
government, has any constitutional right to consider such 
question. 

I hold that he possesses no such authority. The Legislative 
power is an attribute of sovereignty, and the exercise of that 
attribute is vested, by the people of the State in the Senate and 
House of Delegates. The power to grant charters to towns and 
cities belongs wholly to the Legislature under the Constitution, 
but before this power can be exercised, it must be made to ap- 
pear that a town, to receive a special charter, contains two 
thousand or more people. The legal presumption therefore is, 
that when the Legislature granted this charter, this fact had 
been clearly established to the satisfaction of a majority of the 
members of the Legislature, otherwise that body would not and 
could not have passed this bill. All of its members were sworn 
to support the Constitution of the State, and it is not to be pre- 
sumed that they would violate their oaths of office by passing 
the bill in question, without the requisite proof to enable them 
so to do. 

Not only does the subject of granting charters to towns and 
cities belong to the Legislature, but it belongs to no other de- 
partment of the government. To exercise this power, the Legis- 
lature must inform itself of the existence of the facts prereq- 
uisite to enable it to act on the subject. How it shall do so, and 
upon what evidence, the Legislators themselves alone must de- 
termine; and when so determined, it must conclude further in- 
quiry, as I see it, by the Executive and Judiciary departments 
of the government. Therefore, the final action terminating in 
an act of legislation in due form, must of necessity presuppose 
and determine all the facts prerequisite to the enactment; and 
that, too, as fully and as effectually as a final judgment of a 



Senate Bile No. 139. 



593 



competent judicial tribunal of general jurisdiction would do in 
any case that can properly be brought before it. 

My opinion, therefore, is, that the passage of the bill grant- 
ing a special charter to the town of St. Mary's is the solemn af- 
firmation of record, by the only tribunal having jurisdiction so 
to act, that the constitutional requirement, as to requisite pop- 
ulation, had been and was fully complied with, or otherwise the 
charter could not have been granted. 

For these reasons I approve Senate Bill No. 139, granting a 
special charter to the town of St. Marys, in the county of Pleas- 
ants. 

G. W. Atkinson. 

Governor. 

Charleston, February 18, 1901. 



SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNOR. 



Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Delegates: 

You are aware of the fact that a great Exposition of the in- 
dustries of the New World is to be held at Buffalo, N. Y., be- 
ginning May 1st next and ending October 30th. It is expected 
that the industries of the greater portions of North, Central 
and South America will be on exhibition. As I stated in my 
bi-ennial message to your Honorable Body at the beginning of 
your present session, I deemed it very important that West Vir- 
ginia, which is perhaps the richest of all the States in the ( 'nion 
in natural rescources, should be properly represented in said 
Exposition. I also stated that I had conferred with several 
prominent citizens of the State several inonihs before the be- 
ginning of your present session relative to taking advanced 
steps with a view of having our State properly represented in 
this great Pan-American exposition. To be properly represented, 
it was necessary to begin work, as many of us believed, before the 
meeting of your Honorable Body, from whom an appropriation 
of a reasonable amount for a proper representation of our in- 
dustries could be asked. As previously stated to your Honor- 
able Body, it was believed the proper thing to do to take the 
preliminary steps necessary to secure a building of suitable di- 
mensions for the accommodation of our own people, which, at 
the same time, would be creditable to the State. 

In accordance with this line of operations, I borrowed, in the 
name of the State of West Virginia, the sum of #10,000 to en- 
able the Commission, which body had been appointed about one 



594 Public Addresses, &c., of (toy. (i. W. Atkinson. 



year ago, to begin work. The money was turned over to the com- 
mission, which body had elected a President, Secretary and 
Teasurer, after a bond had been taken from the Treasurer in 
the sum of f 15,000. The Commissioners started work most en- 
ergetically, and were set upon having a creditable representa- 
tion of our exhibits at the Exposition. An architect was em- 
ployed to prepare a plan and specifications for the building, 
which were accepted, and the contract w r as let to the lowest 
responsible bidder. The building, though not an expensive one 
in comparison with others, is nevertheless, I am informed, one 
of the handsomest on the Exposition grounds. The contractors 
begun their work a short time before the meeting of the Legis- 
lature. After the assembling of your Honorable .Body, some op- 
position was developed to the granting of an appropriation, 
and work was stopped upon the building. An agent was em- 
ployed to arrange exhibits from different parts of the State, 
who entered upon his duties and reported to the Commissioners 
that the people gladly seconded the movement of the Commis- 
sion to send exhibits to Buffalo. The Commissioners necessar- 
ily had several preliminary meetings, and also a part of them 
made one or more trips to Buffalo with the object in view of 
securing a site for the West Virginia Building, and also space 
in the general exhibition building for our State exhibits. Ex- 
penses were incurred, and which the commission is obligated to 
pay, including their own espouses, without salary, aggregating 
the sum of four thousand six hundred and fifty-seven dollars 
and twenty-nine cents ($4,657.29). The vouchers are in my pos- 
session, and can be seen and examined at your pleasure. 

I desire to say to your Honorable Body that the f 10,000 was 
borrowed in good faith, and the work was begun with a com- 
mendable spirit on the part of the Commissioners, and it was 
believed by all of us concerned, that West Virginia would make 
a very creditable showing on the Pan-American Exposition 
grounds. I feel now, as I did when the money was borrowed, 
that West Virginia should, by all means, be represented in this 
forthcoming Exposition of the resources of the New World, 
and I beg to say that I do not believe our State can afford to 
refuse to appropriate a reasonable sum of money for the ex- 
hibit of our great rescources. We are looking to an enlarged 
trade, especially in our coals, with the Central and South Ameri- 
can Republics, which Republics we are assured, will be fully 
represented at the Exposition, and who will have many of their 
own people present. Nevertheless, if your Houorable Body decides 
to take a different view of this subject from myself and others 
of my way of thinking, I earnestly ask you, as only a matter of 
right and justice, to appropriate the sum of money above rep- 
resented to be paid under the direction of the Board of Public- 
Works, when they are fully satisfied by an examination of the 



Special Message. 



595 



vouchers, that the amounts therein mentioned were properly, 
necessarily and justly expended. It is evident to the minds of 
all of you that the Charleston National Bank, from which the 
money was borrowed, must be paid both principal and interest, 
and if not paid by the State, it must be done by myself and such 
friends as see fit, willingly, to assist me in discharging the obli- 
gation. 

The States of New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan, 
Connecticut, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Ohio, Rhode Island, Mis- 
souri, Alabama, Georgia, California, Mississippi, Louisiana, 
Washington, Oregon, Montana, Minnesota, South Dakota, New 
Jersey, New Mexico, Nebraska, Utah, Arizona and Oklahoma 
have all made appropriations, by their respective Legislatures, 
for suitable exhibits at the Pan-American Exposition; and near- 
ly all of the States mentioned have erected individual State 
buildings. 

G. W. Atkinson, 

Governor. 

Charleston, February 21, 1901. 



SENATE BILL NO. 91. 
Views of the Governor Thereon. 



Four reasons have been assigned why this bill should not be- 
come a law, and upon which I am asked to veto the same, to wit: 

1. That the title of the bill is contrary to section 30 of ar- 
ticle VI of the Constitution, which provides that no act of the 
Legislature shall embrace more than one object, which shall 
be expressed in the title. 

2. That the bill as passed does not, in terms, make provision 
for an apportionment of the city of Hinton's indebtedness 
which existed at the time of the passage of this bill, which re- 
leases from the present corporation about one-fourth of the pop- 
ulation and territory of the city. 

3. That the bill legislates out of office four councilmen and 
the city sergeant, who reside in the territory taken out of the 
city by the passage of this bill, which is contrary to section 6 
of Article IV of the Constitution. 

4. That section 10 of chapter XII of the Code, requires no- 
tice of an intention to apply for the amendment of a city char- 
ter, to be published four weeks in a newspaper of the city, be- 
fore such application can be made to the Legislature. 

All of these contentions I have carefully considered. 



596 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. Gr. W. Atkinson. 



1. The title of the bill is in the following language: 

U A Bill to amend and re-enact sections 1, 2, 6, 9 of chapter 
CIV of the acts of the Legislature of 1897, and add a new sec- 
tion thereto numbered 45." 

I need only to refer to the cases of Heath vs. Johnson, 36 W. 
Va., 782; State vs. Mines, .38 W. Va., 126, and Koby, Mayor, vs. 
Sheppard, 42 W. Va., 286, in which the constitutionality of the 
titles of acts of the Legislature are exhaustively considered, 
to overrule this contention. The gist of these decisions is, that 
when an amendment in a title points not only to the chapter 
which is to be amended, but to the various sections also, it is a 
sufficient expression of the object of the law to prevent any of 
the evils which the constitutional provision was intended to 
remedy. That this is fully done in this particular case cannot 
be questioned, and I hold theref ore that it is sufficient and com- 
plete. 

2. The bill does not provide for the assumption or payment 
by the territory embraced in Upper Hinton of any portion of 
the city's debt. The Legislature could have so provided, and 
could have fixed any proportion thereof by it deemed fair and 
equitable, and constituted the same a charge on that portion 
separated by the act. The expediency and justice of so doing 
was a question for the Legislature to determine, and it has so 
determined by assigning no part of said indebtedness to Upper 
Hinton. It would certainly seem, therefore, that if its power 
to apportion be admitted, or shown, that the Executive would 
presume prima facie, that the Legislature had some good and 
sufficient reason for so doing, and acted fairly and wisely in leav- 
ing the whole of said debt to be borne bv the city as now consti- 
tuted. 

It is certainly also to be presumed that the Legislature was 
aware that by omitting such a specific provision, the common 
law as established by the courts of last resort of most of the 
States of the Union, and as firmly established by the Court of 
Appeals of West Virginia, would attach to the statute as en- 
acted and cause the whole of such indebtedness to rest where 
it belonged, and where practically if not literally all of the 
benefits had fallen; namely, upon the city of Hinton as its 
boundaries are fixed by this bill, and that that corporatioD 
would have all of the corporate property within its new limits. 
In other words, the Legislature having made no specific appro- 
tionment fixing the relative burdens to be borne by each portion 
of the territory legislated for, the law supplies the omission and 
fixes the terms in exactly the same manner that -our statute of 
descents and distributions makes a will, or supplies the terms 
of distribution, for one dying intestate, and such settled law is 
to be taken and read into the act. 

What the provisions fixed by the common law are, is well set- 



Senate Bill No 91. 



597 



tied in this State. In the case of Board v. Board, 30 W. Va 7 
425, the rights and powers of the Legislature in respect of the 
altering, increasing, or decreasing the boundaries of municipal 
and other public corporations, is exhaustively and learnedly dis- 
cussed, and such right is full}- sustained. The court therein de- 
cides that what, if any, proportion of corporate property and 
corporate indebtedness shall upon a division be apportioned, be- 
tween the old and the new corporation, is for the Legislature 
to determine; but that if the Legislature does not fix such pro- 
portion, then the whole indebtedness falls and must rest upon 
the old corporation with its new limits, and that all corporate 
property within such limits goes to the old corporation. The 
power of the Legislature to fix and determine such proportion 
is treated as unquestionable, and the court reviews many cases 
from other States and text writers which show that its decis- 
ion was absolutely correct and fully sustain it. I quote the syl- 
labus of the points and principles decided by our own court in 
that case: 

"2. Upon the division of an old public corporation, and the 
creation of a new one out of a part of its inhabitants and terri- 
tory, the Legislature may provide for an equitable apportion- 
ment or division of the corporate property, and impose upon the 
new corporation or upon the people and territory thus disan- 
nexed, the obligation to pay an equitable portion of the corpor- 
ate debts. 

"3. Where the Legislature does not prescribe any regula- 
tion for the apportionment of the property or that the new cor- 
poration shall pay any portion of the debt of the old, the old 
corporation will hold all the corporate property within its new 
limits, and be entitled to all the debts due the old corporation, 
and be responsible for all the debts of the corporation existing 
before and at the time of the division; and the new corporation 
will hold all the corporate property falling within its bounda- 
ries, to which the old corporation will have no claim. 

"4. The powers exercised in the division of public corpora- 
tions being purely legislative, the power to prescribe the rule 
by which the property of the corporation shall be divided, and 
the debts apportioned, being incidental to the power to divide 
the territory must also be strictly legislative, and the courts 
have no authority over the subject, and can only construe the 
act of the Legislature and see that the legislative will is car- 
ried into effect. 

"5. The Legislature had the right to confer its power to di- 
vide public corporations on the county court, and though in the 
act conferring such power it gave no directions as to the appor- 
tionment of the property and debts of the old corporation, yet 
as incident to the power granted, the county court had the same 
power in that regard as existed in the Legislature before the 



598 Public Addresses, &c., of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



act was passed; and if such court divide a district and the order 
making such division is silent as to the apportionment of cor- 
porate property and debts, the same result will follow as if the 
district had been divided by the Legislature and. the act was 
silent as to the apportionment of the corporate property and 
debts of the old corporation." 

The law, as laid down in this case and also in the case of Koby 
vs. Sheppard, clearly shows the right of the Legislature to make 
the division of the city of Hinton, and also to make such ap- 
portionment of the debts and assets of the city at the time of the 
division, as it deemed proper, or by failing to provide that there 
be no apportionment at all. It is but just to presume that I, 
as the Executive of the State, should believe that the Legisla- 
ture knew what it was doing, and also to know the effect of its 
failure to specifically so provide, if it saw fit so to do. Hence 
I conclude that it is not any part of my prerogative to set aside 
its act in this respect. 

3. I cannot believe that an election to an office carries with 
it a vested right to the territory to which the duties of the of- 
fice apply so as to prevent the Legislature from altering, de- 
creasing or wiping out entirely a municipal corporation, should 
it deem that the public good required it. Legislating out of of- 
fice is by no means an uncommon thing in West Virginia, and 
while nearly every session of our Legislature will show the abol- 
ition or change of some office, or the territory to which it ap- 
plies, I have been unable to find any case where any court holds, 
or was ever asked to hold, that by reason of that fact the act 
was void. For instance, the Legislature of 1895 abolished the 
office of criminal judge of Wayne county, created by an act of 
1893, and to which office a judge had been elected for a term of 
six years, by simply abolishing the court. At the same session 
the county of Mingo was formed out of Logan county, which 
doubtless reduced the fees of the office of sheriff of Logan coun- 
ty very materially, as it is claimed this act will for the sergeant 
of Hinton. The acts of our Legislature are full of similar legisla- 
tion, and therefore I cannot consider seriously this contention 
in this particular case. 

4. The contention that the intention of some of the citizens 
of Hinton to propose an amendment to the city's charter should 
have been advertised for four consecutive weeks prior to the 
convening of the Legislature, in a newspaper published within 
the city, as provided by section 10 of chapter XII of the Code, 
is purely a question of fact, over which the Executive has no 
control. Moreover, it cannot be contended that any act of our 
Legislature can, in any sense, bind the acts of a succeeding Leg- 
islature. Therefore this contention must be overruled. 

For the reasons above set out, there is nothing left for me to 



Veto of Senate Bill No. 70. 



599 



do, as Executive of the State, but approve Senate Bill No. 91, 
and allow it to become a law, which I accordingly do. 

G. W. Atkinson, 

Governor. 

Charleston, February 21, 1901. 



SENATE BILL NO. 70. 



Veto by the Governor. 



Gentlemen of the Semite and House of Delegates. 

1 have had but a very short time to devote to an investigation 
of this bill. It is my duty, under the Constitution, to investigate 
each bill passed by the Legislature, especially as to its Consti- 
tutional qualifications. I cannot dismiss from my mind the fact 
that the title of this bill is clearly in violation of section 3 article 
6 of the Constitution, for the following reasons: 

This bill purports to amend and re-enact Section 4 of Chapter 
70 of the acts of 1883, as amended and re-enacted by chapter 59 
of the acts of 1887, Section 4 of chapter 70 of the acts of 1893 
provided the duties required of inspectors of mines. Chapter 
59, of the acts of 1897 does not , in any way, affect 
section 1 of chapter 70, of the acts of 1883, but mere- 
ly affects sections 1, 2 and 3 of that chapter. The act 
of 1897, however, (chapter 50, section 4), does amend sec- 
tion 4 of chapter 70 of the acts of 1883, and makes the law 
entirely different from what it was in the act of 1883. It is 
Therefore evident that the present bill seeks to amend a Statute 
that has already been repealed, and refers to it in such a way as 
to make it misleading and incorrect. In other words, it is clear- 
ly a mis-statement, which cannot be held otherwise than as con- 
flicting with the requirements of the constitutional provision 
above referred to. 

The bill is also in conflict with the general law of the State 
relative to the Mining Bureau, which has been established for 
the protection of both miners and operators in this, that the 
present bill requires deputy inspectors to inspect all of the 
mines in their respective districts three times a year, without 
fixing any given period between the inspections that they may 
make, and also requires them to report annualy to the Gover- 



600 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



nor, while the general law requires the deputy inspectors to re- 
port to the chief mine inspector, whose duty it is to submit 
anual reports to the Governor. This provision in the bill prac- 
tically destroys the Mining Bureau as at present organized un- 
der the laws of the State. House Bill No. 109, passed by the 
present session of the Legislature previously to the one^ now 
before me, covers, in detail, all of the points comprehended in 
the bill now before me, except the point of branding the capa- 
city upon the cars in certain cases. If Senate Bill No. 70 should 
become a law, because of the fact that it passed subsequently to 
House Bill No. 109, will necessarily annul all parts of the same 
that are in conflict with it. 

The deputy inspectors, under House Bill No. 109, passed at 
your present session, are required to visit each mine in their 
respective districts not less than every three months. The ob- 
ject of these inspections is for the protection of the lives of the 
men engaged in mining. Each inspector has an average of 
80 miles of mines to inspect. It is estimated that at least one mine 
car is built or rebuilt at each mine every working day, which 
makes about 80 cars to be branded each working day at points 
widely separated. The time therefore occupied in complying 
with the requirements of this bill will consume a large part of 
the time of the inspectors, which necessarily will prevent the 
mines from being properly inspected. 

Ir is a conceded faet that the same volume of different coals 
has different weight, which renders it a difficult problem to 
arrive at the standard volume for all coals; that is to say, a car 
containing a certain number of cubic feet will contain more or 
less coal, as the case may be, owing to the specific gravity of 
the seam or vein of coal used. In some operations, I am in- 
formed, there is more than one seam of coal mined and that the 
cars are used interchangeably in each seam, according to the 
demands of trade. In such cases, the branding of cars, as pro- 
vided in this bill, will necessarily be misleading and v\ ill be pro- 
ductive of dissatisfaction and contests between the miners and 
the operators. 

Moreover, there is no penalty fixed by the bill for the failure 
of the inspectors to brand coal cars in accordance with its re- 
quirements, nor is any penalty affixed for operators who might 
refuse to allow their cars to be branded by the inspectors, or 
indeed, for refusing generally to observe the rquirements of the 
bill. A law without a penalty affixed, as a matter of course, 
cannot be enforced. 

However much I might desire to see the interests of the coal 
miner, in every respect, cared for, I cannot, under my oath of 
office, approve a bill which is unconstitutional, conflicting 
and inoperative. I therefore decline to approve Senate Bill No. 
70, and according!}- veto the same. The Attorney General con- 



Veto of Senate Bill No. 134. 



(301 



curs with me in my construction of the Constitution relating* to 
the title of this bill. 

G. W. Atkinson. 

Governor. 

Charleston. West Virginia. February 22, 1901. 



SEXATE BILL XO. 134. 
Veto by the Governor. 



The only object or purpose of this bill that I can conceive of, 
is to furnish the lawyers of the State advanced copies of the de- 
isions of the Supreme Court of Appeals, at the expense of the 
State. 

If such law were necessary, I would cheerfully approve the 
same. But as I see it, there is no sort of use for such measure. 
••The Southeastern Reporter" publishes in advance, weekly, all 
of the decisions of the Supreme Courts of five States, including 
West Virginia, and places such decisions in the hands of the 
various attorneys of the State, not later than one month after 
they are rendered. Moreover, "The West Virginia State Bar/* 
•a monthly publication, prints the sylabi of all decisions of our 
highest court. Therefore, I cannot understand why the State 
of West Virginia should be required to publish, at public ex- 
pense, what is nothing more nor less than a monthly or weekly 
magazine, for the convenience of the attorneys of the State. 

The provision requiring the Secretary of State to be an agent 
of the State to sell such publication, will prove futile, because 
the sale of the same to the various attorneys will amount prac- 
tically to nothing in a dollars and cents point of view. 

If attorneys desire to know, in advance, the doings of our Su- 
preme Court of Appeals, it will cost them but a small stipend to 
find out what is being done, by subscribing for a private publica- 
tion, which will be placed upon their tables even in advance of 
the publication required by this bill. 

For these reasons. I veto this bill, and I believe every intelli- 
gent West Virginia lawyer will say I am right in so acting. 

G. W. Atkinson, 

Governor. 

Charleston, February 26. 1901. 



602 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



SENATE BILL NO. 80. 



Governor Atkinson's Opinion Thereon. 



This bill was maturely considered by the Legislature of this 
State, and it was the sentiment of both branches of the same 
that West Virginia needed more stringent laws relative to the 
protection and preservation of the fish in the waters of this 
State. The law, as it formerly existed, made it a misdemeanor 
only for dynamiting fish, and did not provide for ladders by 
means of which fish could ascend and descend the various 
streams of the State where dams were constructed therein. 
This bill makes the dynamiting of fish a felony, and requires 
the construction of fish ladders by all persons who maintain 
dams across the various water courses of the State. It is con- 
tended before me that the construction of fish ladders will in- 
terfere with the lumber commerce in our creeks and rivers. 1 
have looked into this question with great carefulness, and while 
I am aware of the fact that the navigable waters of the State 
belong to and are controlled by the United States government, 
and that the branches of the same, which are necessarily feed- 
ers, are also in a measure under the control of the Lmited States, 
yet I cannot see that the simple requirement of the construction 
of a fish ladder at each dam erected for the purpose of com- 
merce, can, in any sense, disturb the lumber traffic in our creeks 
and rivers, nor can I understand why such requirement can be 
construed as a hardship to those persons who, in the conduct of 
their business, find it necessary to construct dams across the var- 
ious rivers and creeks of the State. My information is that a 
fish ladder is a very cheap affair, and for any ordinary dam can- 
not cost more than $20 to $30. These ladders, at all seasons 
of the year will afford proper ingress and egress for fish, which 
every one conceeds is a large food commodity in this State. 

There are dams now situated in some of our rivers which are 
an absolute block to the passage of fish up stream. The purpose 
of this law is to prevent the destruction of fish by the use of 
dynamite, and also to facilitate the travel of fish up and down 
rivers and creeks of West Virginia waterways. While I would 
not, under any circumstances, allow an act of the Legislature 
to become a law if I were satisfied that it would interfere ser- 
iously with the lumber traffic of the State, which is one of our 
largest industries, if I could prevent it. yet this bill cannot be 



Veto of Senate Bill No. 181. 



construed, as such an interference. Therefore, I deem it my dutv 
to approve the same. 

G. W. Atkinson, 

Governor. 

Charleston, February 26, 1901. 



SENATE BILL NO. 181. 



Veto by the Governor. 



The adoption of this bill was among the last acts of the Leg- 
islative session of the present year. The purpose of the bill is, 
according to the title of the same, "to increase the revenues of 
the State." While it is an independent act of the Legislature, 
it is nevertheless an amendment to sections two and eighteen 
of Chapter XXXIV of the Code, and its evident purpose is to 
define in more specific terms w T hat person or persons connected 
directly or indirectly with insurance business, shall be regarded 
as agents or solicitors of insurance within the limits of this 
State. 

Section two of Chapter XXXIV of the Code, requires every 
person who may be engaged, directly or indirectly, in soliciting 
life or fire insurance within this State, to procure from the Au- 
ditor a certificate to authorize him to engage in such business, 
and, indeed, makes it unlawful to engage in such business with- 
out securing such permit. Sub-division eleven of said section 
two provides that if any person shall act as agent or broker in 
soliciting insurance within this State, without having first pro- 
cured a certificate of the Auditor of the State to authorize him 
to act as such agent or broker, and without having the same 
renewed annually, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and his 
certificate as such agent or broker, shall be revoked, and he 
cannot have the same revived within three years thereafter. 
That is to say, if any insurance agent or broker in West Vir- 
ginia shall violate this specific provision, he is barred from act- 
ing either as an agent or broker in the insurance business in 
West Virginia for the term of three years. 

Section 18 of Chapter XXXIV of the Code of 1899, which in . 
no respect has been disturbed by either of the two bills passed 
by the recent session of the Legislature, pertaining to the bus- 
iness of fire and. life insurance in this State, provides in specific 
terms, that no person shall engage in the insurance business in 
West Virginia, either as agent, sub-agent or broker by writing 



604 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. VV. Atkinson. 



or causing to be written, any insurance policy of any kind what- 
ever, in a direct or indirect way, without first having procured 
from the Auditor a certificate of authority authorizing him to 
act in such capacity. This provision even goes still further and 
applies to every person who may be engaged in any manner 
whatever in soliciting insurance risks — fire or life — issuing or 
obtaining the issuing of insurance policies, selling tickets of in- 
surance, or doing or aiding others engaged in the insurance bus- 
iness to do any act pertaining to the business of insurance, and 
provides a penalty of a fine of not less than $20.00 nor more 
than |200.00 for every offense for so doing. Surely, it seems 
to me, that this provision is sufficiently drastic to inhibit all 
sub-agents, brokers or spotters from any serious interference 
with tlie legitimate business of fire and life insurance within 
the limits of the State. 

Section two of this bill (House Bill No. 181), is entirely too 
severe and exacting in this, that it, beyond question, inhibits all 
clerks and messengers employed in insurance offices within the 
State, from receiving or collecting, directly or indirectly, any 
premiums pertaining to insurance, without first having received 
from the Auditor a certificate authorizing him to so act; and sec- 
tion three affixes a fine of not less than $25.00 nor more than 
f 100.00 for each particular offense for so doing. Unquestionably 
the Legislature did not intend to go to this extreme in its hon- 
est endeavor to place under proper surveillance the business 
of insurance within the State of West Virginia. 

House Bill No. 49 was passed by the Legislature about the 
middle of the session of the present year, and I approved the 
same shortly after its passage. This bill, like the one now be- 
fore me (Senate Bill No. 181), is an independent act of the leg- 
islative body, and its object is to regulate the writing of insur- 
ance policies on property or lives within the State of West Vir- 
ginia. The manifest purpose of House Bill No. 49 is not only 
to increase the revenue of the State, but to protect the citizens 
of the State engaged in the business of insurance, from innova- 
tions of persons outside the State, who are engaged in the same 
business and who represent insurance companies which 
are not authorized to do business in this State, 
from coming within the limits of the State and 
writing risks on the property or lives of our citizens. 
No one can question the justness of this measure. It is plainly 
to be seen that an insurance company (either fire or life) which 
refuses to pay any tax whatever to maintain the government of 
this State, ought not to be allowed to send its agents into our 
territory to carry on business in competition and opposition to 
other insurance companies, which in all respects are as reliable 
and safe as theirs, that have agreed to pay taxes on a portion 
of their earnings from our West Virginia people, to aid in main- 



Executive Proclamation. 



605 



taming a proper proportion of their share of the expenses of the 
government of this State. Such action should be inhibited, and 
this bill does it, and it is therefore, in my judgment, proper leg- 
islation. 

Senate Bill No. 181 is intended to define more specifically the 
provisions of sections two and eighteen of Chapter XXXIY of 
the Code of 1899, which sections are not repealed by either this 
bill or House Bill No. 49, as to what persons shall be classed as 
agents in soliciting insurance. Sections two and eighteen of 
Chapter XXXIV of the Code will remain the law of this State, 
even if I should allow the bill now before me (Senate Bill No. 
181), to become a law; and inasmuch as said sections provide 
that no person shall solicit insurance, either as an agent direct 
for any insurance company, or as a broker or sub-agent in the 
insurance business, without first having procured a certificate 
from the Auditor to so act as such agent or broker, under the 
severe penalties therein prescribed, I therefore cannot see the 
necessity for the enactment of the bill now before me. 

The active insurance agents of the State seem to be united 
in the belief that Senate Bill No. 181 is to them clearly surplus- 
age, and is in conflict with House Bill No. 49, which I have al- 
ready approved, and also in conflict with such provisions of 
Chapter XXXIY of the Code, which have not been repealed. 
While I do not fully agree with them in their contention, yet 
I cannot see how the passage of Senate Bill No. 181 can, in any 
way, add to the revenues of the State, or in any respect protect 
insurance companies that have complied, with our statute which 
authorizes them to do business within this State, further than 
they are now protected by existing law. Fearing, however, that 
unnecessary complications may arise, as the result of the adop- 
tion of both House Bill No. 49 and Senate Bill No. 181, and also 
because of its extreme features in some of its provisions, I accor- 
dingly veto Senate Bill No. 181. 

G. W. Atkinson, 

Governor. 

Charleston, February 27, 1901. 



EXECUTIVE PROCLAMATION. 



Whereas, At the November term, 1900, of the circuit court 
of Wirt county, West Virginia, Sam Sheppard was convicted 
of the charge of murder in the first degree, and was sentenced 
to be hung, at the penitentiary, March 1st, next; and 



606 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. VV. Atkinson. 



Whereas, An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court of Ap- 
peals in the case, upon alleged errors in the trial of the case in 
the circuit court of said county, which appeal has not been dis- 
posed of, and cannot be determined before the day fixed for the 
execution of the said Sheppard; and 

Whereas, Messrs. Brown and Casto, counsel for Sheppard, 
have requested me to grant a stay of execution for the period of 
ninety days, until a determination of the appeal by the Supreme 
Court of Appeals of the State; 

Therefore, I, George W. Atkinson, Governor of the State of 
West Virginia, in the interest of public justice, do grant unto 
the said Sam Sheppard a respite of ninety (90) days from the 
first day of March, 1901 ; and should the Supreme Court of Ap- 
peals refuse to grant to him a new trial, I hereby direct the war- 
den of the penitentiary of the State of West Virginia, at the 
expiration of this respite, to execute the said Sheppard in ac- 
cordance with the sentence of the circuit court of Wirt county. 

Given under my hand and the seal of the State, 
[Seal.] at the capital, this 28th day of February, A. D.. 
1901, and in the 38th year of the State/ 

G. W. Atkinson, 
Wm. M. O. Dawson. Governor. 
Secretary of State. 



REMARKS OF GOVERNOR GEO. W. ATKINSON, MARCH 
4, 1901, PRIOR TO HIS INTRODUCTION OF GOVERN- 
OR-ELECT WHITE, TO THE PEOPLE, TO BE 
INSTALLED INTO OFFICE. 



My Fellow Citizens of West Virginia: 

In retiring from a four years term as the Chief Executive offi- 
cer of the State, I beg your indulgence in offering a few general 
remarks, before I introduce to you my successor in office. 

Under our Constitution, it is the duty of the Governor to see 
that all of the laws of the State are properly enforced; and yet, 
as a matter of fact, he possesses but little absolute power over 
matters of government. You will not be advised, therefore, of 
what I have personally done during the administration just 
closed, as what the observing of you have seen done by the offi- 
cial establishment of the State. 

That West Virginia has grown, almost marvelously, during 
the past quadrennium, no one will question. We have seen our 



Introduction of Governor-Elect White. 



GOT 



output of carbon oil reach nearly twenty million barrels in the 
year 1900, giving us first place, in that production, of all the 
States. We have grown to second place in the production of 
coke, and the increase in the coal mined in 1900 over 1896, is 
greater than the entire production of the State in 1890. Our 
output of coke in 1900 was 2,496,107 tons, — an increase of 81.6 
per cent, over 1897, and our output of coal in 1900 was 22,000,- 
000 tons, an increase of 61.3 per cent, over 1897. We are now 
the third — and will be second within a year or two — of all the 
coal producing States in the Union. In the lumber industry, we 
have made equally rapid strides in development. While in agri- 
cultural growth, we have surprised ourselves, as well as others 
outside of the State who have taken notice of us. Our West 
Virginia hills and vales are fertile, the climate is good, and our 
farmers are coming steadily to the front. Taxes are reasonably 
low, and we have conscientiously and rigidly enforced our laws, 
and withal we have been just to all concerned. 

We have expended, on public buildings and public improve- 
ments upwards of a half-million dollars more money during the 
past four years, than during any preceding quadrennium, with- 
out increasing the rate of taxation, and have more money in the 
treasury than ever before at this season of the year, and all bills 
against the State have been paid and no debts contracted. 

Mountaineers always love liberty. Our West Virginia people 
therefore are specially devoted to freedom. Love of country, 
next to love of home, is the sheet-anchor of society. A people 
established in patriotism are strong individually, and when as- 
sociated for political purposes, suggest great possibilities. Pa- 
triotism has figured conspicuously in setting the standard of 
West Virginia character. It is a fact worthy of note that our stur- 
dy West Virginians stubbornly refused to be dragged into rebel- 
lion against the flag, and what is now the territory of this State 
always remained loyal to the Union. Happily our school chil- 
dren are taught the lives and characters of the country's found- 
ers and defenders, and. that purity, principle and justice may 
continue to predominate in the affairs of State. The study of 
the careers of Washington and Lincoln should be kept up, until 
the deeds of their noble lives are reflected in the conduct of com- 
ing generations. The American flag should float above every 
school house, and our children should be taught to reverence and 
defend it as they would their own homes and firesides, because 
respect for the flag creates national pride, and in this manner 
all citizens become patriots. 

The firm, determined character of West Virginians is becom- 
ing well known, and will, sooner or later, become historic. 
Mountain reared men are always ambitious, and ambition, mix- 
ed with brains, cannot easily be suppressed. The proud acts 
of our men are now the envy of ambition. We boast of good 
government, and upon this depends the safe-guarding of every 



008 Public Addresses, &c, of Gov. G. W. Atkinson. 



interest of our people. We have do classes or caste, — all are 
freemen, and all have but one ideal and destiny — that of exalt- 
ed citizenship. 

Much, my friends, that I started out to accomplish has been 
left undone, and yet what has been done, I trust, has been for 
the good of one and all. Some of us are partisans, but above 
and behind it is a greater love for country and State. I would 
have done much more, but the times seemingly were not ripe 
for the introduction of many changes, which to me appeared as 
ideals. These will come later on. Happily the world is moving 
forward — not backward, and I look for greater growth under 
my distinguished successor along the lines wmich I have endeav- 
ored to blaze out. 

We are living under a new dispensation in the 
government of our commonwealth, and I believe it 
is generally conceded that the masses have not suf- 
fered by the change. With rapid and steady step our State 
is marching to the front. We possess natural resources in 
many respects unsurpassed. In this driving, work-a-day age, 
it is a question, in business, as in everything else, of the survi- 
val of the fittest. Having the best qualities and the greatest 
quantities of coal and oil and gas and timber, rich soil and a 
climate and location unsurpassed, West Virginia inevitably, in 
these great resources, must lead all of the other sister States. 

I beg to urge upon my successor, and I know he will not fail 
in this respect, the maintenance of high ideals in educational 
and moral work and worth, upon which, more than all things 
else, must depend the progress and prosperity of the State. 

It is gratifying to me, my fellow citizens, that the great polit- 
ical party to which I have the honor to belong, remains in the 
ascendency in the "Mountain State," It is a party of the pres- 
ent and of the people. To act, to assume responsibilities, to go 
at every problem to solve and settle it, — this is the genius of the 
Republican party. It despises evasions, it detests compromises, 
it rejoices in opportunities. For more than a quarter of a cen- 
tury, nearly every line of American history is but the life-story 
of the Republican party; and yet, while I believe all this is true, 
it is the duty of the Chief Executive of a State, to rise above 
party in order that he may subserve the interests of all the 
people. The people are the State, and their interests should 
at all times be guarded and protected. Knowing my successor 
as I do, I am sure he will be just and reasonable and fair, and 
I bespeak for him a brilliant and successful administration. 

A word or two more, in conclusion. As I retire from the Ex- 
ecutive chair of State, I desire to thank all my fellow citizens of 
the State I love and whose interests and development I have 
done my utmost to advance, for their confidence and support. I 
desire also to thank my friends not only for elevating me to the 
highest office in the State, but for their counsel and support in 



Introduction of Goyernor-Elect White. 609 



times of trial, which often bordered on distress. As we cross 
the threshold of a new century, in which the art of human gov- 
ernment and composition of citizenship will have wider and 
greater possibilities than ever before, let us look to God for 
courage, love and. humanity, which shall keep West Virginia 
in the national constellation of States the bright star that shall 
never set. 

My countrymen, I take unfeigned pleasure in introducing to 
you my successor as the Governor of your State, the Honorable 
Albert B. White, of Parkersburg, an educated, broad-minded, 
able, generous, manly man, a patriot and a Eepublican in whom 
there is no guile. 

Thanking you again for past favors, and for the courtesies of 
this occasion. I bid you God speed and a final adieu. 



INDEX. 



A 

Page. 



Address — accepting Nomination for Governor 3 

at Inauguration for Governor 12 

Article on Resources of West Virginia 19 

Article on Resources of West Virginia 129 

Article on Farm Products 24 

Address— The New Old Dominion 25 

The American Flag 29 

Relative to J. B. Parkinson 33 

At the Grave of P. B. Dobbins 39 

On General Grant Day 43 

On Sts. John Day 47 

at Louisville. Ky 51 

at West Virginia Colored Institute 59 

"Which Side?" 65 

Grand Army of West Virginia, at Columbus, Ohio 78 

G. A. R. at Huntington, West Virginia.... 89 

at Rockville Female College 94 

at Keyser, West Virginia 99 

"Is this a Christian Nation?" 110 

The Nashville Exposition 113 

Bpworth League, Charleston. West Virginia 117 

at Grave of O. S. Long 123 

at Tampa, Florida 133 

at Richmond. Virginia, Y. M. C. A. Day 143 

at laying corner stone of church at Hamlin. West Virginia 158 

at Atlanta. Ga.. before Ep worth League Convention 168 

at Cameron, Test Virginia, on Decoration Day 117 

Presenting flag 181 

Presenting sword to Captain Burns 189 

before Ohio River Improvement Association 196 

at Dedication of Soldiers' Monument at Gettysburg 202 

at Home for Incurables 266 

before Charleston Epworth League 298 

Agricultural Growth — Article on 306 

Address— opening Ei^s Carnival, Wheeling 311 

"Modern Educational Requirements"... 327 

to Spanish War Soldiers at Pittsburg 341 

before Civic Federation. Chicago 348 

Arbor Day Proclamation 362 

Address— Southern Industrial Convention, Huntsville, Ala 366 

Before Masonic Grand Lodge, on death of Dr. Evans 377 

at Anniversary of Death of Washington 379 

dedicating Odd Fellows Temple at Morgantown 382 

at laying corner stone of public school building 388 

at Grafton National Cemetery 393: 



ii 



Index. 



Before students of Wheeling Business College 393 

State Sunday School Convention 4(j8 

at dedication of monument of T. G. Steele, at Grafton, W. Va 417 

Arthur, R. A.— Tribute to 427 

Address of Welcome to typographical Union 43Q 

Appeal for famine stricken India 443 

Address before G. A. R. at Moundsville, West Virginia 444 

Americus Club— speech to 450 

Address before State Republican Convention, 1900 433 

before West Virginia Editorial Association 466 

on the character of W. T. Willey 476 

before Illinois College of Law 47K 

at laying corner stone of Capitol Annex 491 

Apphorisms on Politics 499 

Address at laying corner stone of Boys' Reform School 504 

Argument given for approving charter of New Martinsville 589 

Argument given for approving charter of St. Marys 592 

Argument given for approving charter of Hinton 595 

Agents of Insurance Companies— veto of bill 603 

Address at Inauguration of Governor White 606 

B 

Rage. 

Ben wood Public Schools— an address 29 

Bible— opinion of 167 

Boyhood Days — reference to 209 

Boys' Reform School— address at 504 

Beatty, .7. W.— respite of 584 

C 

Page. 

Commencement Day Address at Louisville 51 

Colored Normal School— address to 59 

Corner stone — address at 59 

Commencement Day Address at Rockville Female College 94 

Christian Nations, opinion on 110 

Confederate Soldiars' Banquet, speech at 140 

Church— address at laying corner-stone of 158 

Chautauqua Methods — an address 327 

■Civic Federation — address before 348 

Chadwick Day — speech at 357 

Convention— "Southern Industrial," speech at 366 

Corner-stone — address at laying same 388 

College Address— before Wheeling Business Students 398. 

Choosing United States Senators — methods of 427 

Causes of Murder and Suicide 433 

Childrens' Home Society — remarks to 437 

Capital— where to invest it 441 

Convict Labor — opinion of 474 

Commencement Day Address before Illinois College of Law 478 

Christian Religion— Why it should be maintained 488 

Corner-stone Oration at Charleston, July 4th, 1900 491 

Corner-stone Oration at Boys' Reform School 504 

Copley, George W. — respite of 591 

Chartering of New Martinsville— reasons for 589 

Chartering of St. Marys— reasons for 592 

Coal-Weighing Bill— veto of 599 



Index. iii 



D 

Page. 

Dobbins, P. B.— eulogy on 39 

Decoration Day Address at Cameron. West Virginia 177 

Remarks 303 

Address at Grafton, West Virginia 393 

Dedication of Steele Monument — oration at 417 

Debt of Virginia— opinion on 439 

Decoration Day Message 473 

Divorce Law— necessity for 520 

Dams obstructing passage of fish 602 

E 

Page. 

Eulogy at grave of General Dobbins 39 

Exposition— Address at Nashville, Tenn 113 

Epworth League, address to 117 

Epworth League, address to 16S 

Epworth League, address to 298 

Elks Carnival, address at 311 

Education— an address at Chautauqua, N. Y 327 

Evans, Dr. A. M.. — Remarks as to his death 377 

Executive order, removing a Notary from office 43P 

Editorial Association— address to 466 

Executive order returning a prisoner to the penitentiary 500 

Executive order granting respite to J. A. Lilly 585 

F 

Page. 

Farm Machinery— article thereon 24 

Female College Address, Rockville, Md 94 

Fourth of July Oration, Keyser, W. Va 99 

Flag— Presentation of 1S1 

First Message to Legislature 211 

Farming Implements— development of 306 

Fourth of July— significance of 490 

Fish Ladder bill— approval of 602 

G 

Page. 

General Grant Day Address 43 

G. A. R. Address. Columbus, Ohio 78 

G. A. R. Address, Cameron, W. Va 177 

Gilmer County Sharpshooters— letter to 190 

Gettysburg— Dedication of Soldiers' Monument 202 t 

Guard, National— correspondence thereon 289 

Gaines, Joseph H.— presenting Spanish shell to 304 

G. A. R. Address at Grafton, W. Va.. 393 

Grit, Get and Gumption— an address , 398 

Golden Rule — opinion of 425 

Grand Army Address at Moundsville, W. Va 444 

Grant Day— Speech at Pittsburg, Pa 451 

II 

Page. 

Hamlin— corner-tone laid at 158 

Hospital for Incurables— address at 266 

Hinton— reasons for approving new charter of 595 



iv 



Index. 



! 

Page. 

Inaugural Address j 4) 

Injunctions— views on - ? 

Introductory Address, Opera House. Wheeling r }{) 

Irrigation— opinion on 294 

Insurance— Valued Policy 295 

Ingersoll— opinion of 32j 

Industrial Convention. Huntsville, Al.t.. speech at 356 

India— appeal for 440 

Illinois College of Law— Address before 47$ 

Insurance Bill— veto of g03 

Introducing Governor A. B. White one 

L 

Page. 

Lincoln— Introducing Henry Watterson 50 

Labor Strikes — views on 73 

Long, O. S., eulogy of 12a 

Lynchings in West Virginia 139 

Lafayette Day Proclamation 201 

Legislature— Message to, 1899 211 

Legislature— Special Message to 271 

Lawrence, Hon. William— remarks on 309 

Labor Day Proclamation, 1899 323 

Lynchings— opinion on 325 

Labor of Convicts— opinion of 414 

Labor Day Proclamation, 1900 .• 500 

Legislature— message to, 1901 522 

Legislature— special message to 588 

Lilly, J. A. — respite of 585 

Lawyers Bill— veto of 601 

M 

Page. 

Marque t Club Address 25 

Moundsville address on J. B. Parkinson 33 

Memorial Address of P. B. Dobbins 39 

Masonic Address at Clarksburg 47 

Medical Students — address to 51 

Morgan, Harry's Funeral 195 

Message to Legislature, 1899 211 

Manufacturer's Record— article in 359 

Murder respited 365 

Masonic Grand Lodge — remarks on death of Dr. Evans 377 

Masonry — Remarks on one hundredth anniversary of death of President Wash- 
ington 379 

Masonic oration at laying corner-stone of Capitol Annex 491 

Message to Legislature, 1901 522 

Murder and Suicide— causes for 433 

McEldowney, Col. Robert— tribute to 583 

Measures and Reforms which should be accomplished 586 

Message (Special), to the Legislature 588 

Message (Special), on Pan American Exposition 593 

Miners' Bill— veto of 599 



Index. v 



N 

Page. 

New Old Dominion— an address.. 25 

Nashville Exposition, address at 113 

North and South— opinion on 269 

National Guard— correspondence thereon 289 

Needs of the South 316 

Negro Problem— article on 317 

Notary Public removed from office 439 

New Significance of the Nation's Natal Day 490 

Notary Public— removal from office of 514 

National Divorce Law — necessity for 520 

New Martinsville— reasons for approving charter of 589 

O 

Page. 

Opinion in Viars Murder Cace 75 

Oration— Fourth of July 99 

Opinion— "Is this a Christian Nation?" 110 

Oration at the Funeral of O. S. Long 123 

Richmond, Va., before Y. M. C. A 143 

Laying Corner-stone of a Church 158 

Opinion of the Holy Bibie 167 

Oration, before Epworth League Convention, Atlanta, Ga 168 

Ohio River Improvement Association — address to 197 

Oration at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 202 

Opinion on Polygamy -. 265 

Religion 297 

Trusts 301 

Oration at Elks Carnival, Wheeling, West Virginia 311 

Opinion of Ingersollism 321 

Oration at Chautauqua, N. Y 327 

Our State— what it is soon to be 345 

Odd Fellows— Speech at Dedication of Temple 382 

Outlook for West Virginia— article on 415 

Oration — Dedication of Steele Monument 417 

Opinion of the "Golden Rule" 425 

Obituary of Rev. R. A. Arthur 427 

Oration before Illinois College of Law 478 

Opinion of the Christian Religion 488 

Oration at laying corner-stone of Capitol Annex 491 

Order returning a prisoner to the penitentiary 500 

Oration— at Pruntytown, West Virginia 504 

Order recommitting convict to the penitentiary 517 

Opinion on National Thanksgiving 521 

Opinion of Col. Robert McEldowney, as a man 583 

P 

Page. 

Proclamation — Thanksgiving Day, 1897 , 116 

Panegyric at Grave of O. S. Long 123 

Prospects and Resources of West Virginia 129 

Presenting Flag, speech on 181 

Proclamation^"Lafayette Day" 201 

Polygamy — opinion of 265 

Pardon of Challon Pahl 293 

Problem of the Negro 317 



vi 



Index. 



Proclamation— Labor Day, 1899 323 

Puerto Rican Sufferers 338 

Arbor Day 362 

Thanksgiving Day, 1899 374 

Political Speech at Fairmont 453 

Aphorisms 499 

Parole— violation of by a pardoned convict 500 

Proclamation— Labor Day, 1900 501 

removing a Notary from office 511 

announcing Presidential election 517 

returning a convict to the penitentiary 517 

Thanksgiving Day, 1900 519 

granting respite to J. W. Beatty 584 

granting respite to J. A. Lilly 585 

granting respite to G. W. Copley 591 

Pan American Exposition— special message on 59:^ 

R 

Page. 

Reprieve— reasons for refusing 75 

Reunion Address, Columbus. Ohio 78 

Reunion Address, Huntington, W. Va 8i» 

Resources of West Virginia— article thereon 129 

Response to Toast, "West Virginia" 140 

Remarks at Hospital for Incurables 26G 

Religion— opinion of 297 

Remarks before Epworth League at Charleston 298 

in presenting Spanish shell to Historical Society 304 

in introducing Booker T. Washington 343 

ivesources of West Virginia — newspaper article on 345 

Remarks in presenting sword to Captain Chadwick 357 

Respite of a murderer 365 

Remarks to Children's Home Society of West Virginia 437 

Removing a Notary Public from office 439 

Republican Convention— address before 453 

Remarks on Character of Walrman L\ Willey 476 

Removal of a Notary from office 514 

Remarks on character of Col. Robert McEldowney 583 

Reforms which should be accomplished 586 

Reasons for Approving Bill Chartering New Martinsville 589 

Respite to G. W. Copley 591 

Reasons for Approving New Charter of Hinton 595 

Respite of Sam. Sheppard 606 

S 

Page. 

Speech of Acceptance 3 

Southern Tradesman— article therein 19 

St. John's Day Address at Clarksburg 47 

Soldiers, address to, at Columbus, Ohio 78 

Soldiers, address to, at Huntington, West Virginia 89 

Speech before South and West Congress, Tampa, Florida 133 

South and West Business Congress, speech at 133 

Soldiers, address to, at Cameron, West Virginia 177 

Sword — remarks in presenting same 188 

Speech Before Ohio River Improvement Association 196 

Soldiers' Monument— speech at dedication of 202 

Spanish-American War — opinion of 207 



Index. vii 



South and North— opinion on... 269 

Soldiers in Spanish War— letter to 269 

Special Message to Legislature, 1899 271 

Spillnian, General B. D.— letter to 289 

Southern Opportunities— letter on 316 

State Resources — article on 340 

Soldiers— speech to, at Pittsburg, Pa 341 

Speech on Trusts at Chicago 348 

Sword Presentation at Morgantown, West Virginia 357 

State Developments— article thereon 359 

Speech at Huntsville, Alabama 366 

Speech at Morgantown, West Virginia, at dedication of Odd Fellows Temple. . 382 

School Building— Speech at laying corner-stone, Moundsville, West Virginia 388 

Soldiers— Speech at National Cemetery at Grafton, West Virginia 393 

Sunday School Convention— speech at 408 

Speech at dedication of Monument at Grafton, West Virginia 417 

Senators in Congress — how they should be chosen 427 

Suicide and Murder— causes for 433 

Speech to the Grand Army of the Republic 444 

before Americus Club at Pittsburg, Pa 453 

before Republican Stale Convention, 1900 453 

to Law Students at Chicago 478 

at the laying of the Capital Annex corner-stone 491 

at the laying of the corner-stone, Boys' Reform School 504 

Special Message to the Legislature 588 

St. Marys— reasons for approving charter of 592 

Special Message relative to Pan American Exposition 593 

Sheppard, Sam.— respite to 606 

Stamping capacity on coal cars 599 

T 

Page. 

Tri-State Reunion, address at 89 

Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, 1897 374 

The "New Old Dominion" 25 

Toast— "West Virginia" 140 

Trusts— opinion of 301 

Trusts— speech on 348 

Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, 1899 374 

Three G's— Grit, Get and Gumption— an address 398 

Tribute to Rev. R. A. Arthur, deceased 427 

Typographical Union— address to 430 

Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, 1900 519 

Thanksgiving Day— a sentence opinion thereon 521 

V 

Page. 

Viars, Albert— reprieve refused 75 

Veto of Court House Removal Bill 272 

Veto (semi) of Valued Policy Insurance Bill..... 274 

Veto of Express Company Bill., 279 

Veto of Mechanics' Lien Law 284 

Vice-President— Elkins or Goff 319 

Views on Robert G. Ingersoll 321 

Virginia Debt — opinion on 439 

Veto of Senate Bill No. 70 (coal cars) 599 

Veto of bill establishing a law journal 601 

Veto of Insurance Bill 603 

Valedictory Address 606 



viii 



Index. 



w 

Page. 

Y\ T est Virginia Resources 19 

VVatterson, Henry— Introducing him 50 

Which Side— an address on 65 

West Virginia Day at Nashville Exposition 113 

Welcome, address of 117 

West Virginia Lynchings 139 

West Virginia— article in "Age of Steel" 129 

—a toast 140 

Monument at Gettysburg, Pa 2n2 

Wealth— article on 340 

Washington, Booker T.— remarks in introducing him :-i4:; 

West Virginia — what it is soon to be 345 

West Virginia Development — facts given 35$) 

Washington— celebrating anniversary of his death 379 

War Senators— discussion on 413 

West Virginia Outlook— article on 415 

Welcome— address of 430 

West Virginia Editorial Association— speech to 460 

Willey, Senator W. T.— remarks on 476 

White, Governor A. B.— introductory of 6m'. 

Y 

Page 

Young Men's Christian Association— address to 65 

Young Men's Christian Association— address to 143 



